Of Gunfire and Roses
by royaiblue
Summary: Royai one shot book. Rated T for the second one shot having more mature themes.
1. Dreams

**Welcome to Royai Week, Day 1! My goal this year is to make a one shot for each day this week, and this is only the first of the Royai one shots. I hope you all enjoy this (as much fun I had typing this in an hour and a half). Please do not forgot to review this when you are finished, I want to hear your thoughts. Constructive criticism is always welcome :-)**

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The infernal war raging outside the makeshift tent was oddly silent that night.

Lieutenant Colonel Riza Hawkeye was wide awake in her cot, staring at nothing except the "ceiling" of the tent hastily put together by herself and her apparent roommate, Second Lieutenant Nogomi Arami. She was glad that her roommate had an alcohol problem and drank every night in an effort to not remember the day's horrific events, but on the days that she actually tried to sleep in her cot, she would snore loudly and wake the entire squadron as she saw vivid nightmares, which only keeps Riza up all night and puts her in a very bad mood the next day. On those days of course, no one walks pasts Riza and stays alive to tell the tale.

Tonight, thankfully, there was a secret meeting between the Second Lieutenant and one of the Warrant Officers. Riza believed the Warrant Officer had just been shipped straight from the academy right to the battlefield, and for a second, an image of a young woman with short blond hair with a white coat donned over the normal military coat of the Amestrians holding a rifle on top of a crumbling building in Ishval crossed her mind. Riza shivered in her cot, clutching the rough blanket even closer to her body. _No, there shall be no memories of Ishval tonight._

"I should probably try to get some shut eye," Riza mumbled to herself, "or I won't be any use to the Major General tomorrow."

After the Promised Day ended, General Gruman quickly rose to the spot of Fuhrer. Any and all people that betrayed the country of Amestris were executed on the spot, according to Law 4938 that was enacted almost a week after he was promoted. Any and all military personnel that helped to save their country, like Mustang and his subordinates, were promoted accordingly. Mustang became a Major General in Central City, and was allowed to keep his former set of subordinates. Hawkeye had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Havoc (when he came back), to First Lieutenant, Fuery to Warrant Officer, Falman to Second Lieutenant, Breda to First Lieutenant. Edward Elric originally had been promoted all the way to Lieutenant General, but quickly left the military, opting for the quiet life in Resembool. Alphonse left for Xing after he was well enough to go about on his own, hoping to find May Chang again.

"Ugh, go to sleep already," Riza commanded her body, but to no avail.

Suddenly the flap on the tent moved inwards. Riza thought at first it had been the wind, but there was almost no breeze tonight. Instead tonight was one of those silent nights out in the South, with only the crickets chirping nearby. Riza realized then it had to be a movement of the fingers. A simple flick can move a piece of fabric in the direction you want it to, and Riza was pretty sure she had also heard something hit the tent.

Riza rose out of the cot and grabbed her gun from underneath her pillow. Putting on her slippers, she walked quickly to the flaps of the tent. She stopped there, listening in for any kind of sounds. However, no sounds were out of the ordinary, and Riza sighed. _What had hit the flap of the tent?_

"Lieutenant Colonel, are you there?" a low voice whispered. Riza knew that voice anywhere.

From inside the tent, she replied quietly. "You weren't supposed to be discharged until tomorrow, General. I doubt that wound has healed yet." Her tone remained professional the entire time. Now was not the time to be messing around; at this rate, Mustang will be found here and get dragged all the way back across the forts to the makeshift hospital ward.

"It's fine, Colonel. Now am I going to stand out here and die in the cold?" His voice sounded impatient. Perhaps he had gotten some important information from the higher ups, or even better, the enemy themselves.

Riza sighed again and opened the flap the tiniest bit, giving Major General Roy Mustang the invitation to come inside. Once inside, Riza put the gun in the holster on the side of her pants.

"What are you doing out here so late at night?" Riza asked first. It was best to get that out of the way first.

"The hospital ward is overcrowding right now with all the new patients and the injured people from today's bombings. Did you know that Aerugo bombed us twelve times?" Mustang deflected the original question, as usual, as he scratched his hair. Riza internally groaned.

"Must you always be such a child sometimes?" she asked. "To answer your question, no I didn't, not until now anyways. However we did take out a few of their higher ups. Hopefully we will be able to end this war soon."

"Yes, it has gone on long enough," Mustang said, looking off to the side, particularly at the bouquet of flowers sitting on the nightstand. "Who gave you those flowers? They're beautiful." A smirk started to form on his lips.

"Only the very best flowers from the local stall nearby Southern Command, and lilies of them all. Of course they were delivered by dear Vanessa, how sweet she is." Riza smiled. "Although the idea behind it was very enchanting, General."

"So you got the message," he said. "I wonder why he's back. He said he wouldn't, but he is. Why?"

"I haven't the slightest clue, General. I have yet to see him on the battlefield as well. Have you come across him, sir?"

Roy didn't answer the question. "We're alone, Riza."

"Then go by code names. It's far too dangerous out here. We could be heard by the higher ups, and then you know what will happen."

Riza collapsed on the bed. Normally with Mustang around, she would be wide awake with the idea of rage, but tonight, she wanted to sleep more than anything else. _That was strange_ , she thought. _Why am I not mad at him like usual?_

"As you wish, Elizabeth." Mustang bowed. "Are you tired? I'm pretty sure I woke you up. I do apologize for my poor manners. I should let you sleep now."

Riza shook her head. Was her apparent drowsiness showing on her face. "I'm fine, sir. Your health is more important."

"I cannot do things if my back is not guarded as well as it should be. You should be worried about yourself, never mind me."

"And you are also walking around with a flesh wound on your thigh, one that shouldn't have healed in two days. At this rate you will - _sir_!"

Riza watched as Roy Mustang swayed left and right, obviously still imbalanced since his wound had not fully healed yet, and collapsed on the ground. She quickly raced to him and dropped to her knees, checking first the wound, which had turned to a nasty shade of purple and black, with green on the side, and then his forehead, which was burning slightly. Gasping, she got up and hoisted Mustang up and carried him onto her cot. The hospital ward was too far away to make him go to, and he did not seem like he would die within the next forty eight hours. Riza decided to let him stay in her tent that night, and come up with a story for this in case the higher ups caught wind of this.

Laying him down on his back. Riza elevated the injured leg on an extra pillow (so what if the extra pillow was the Second Lieutenant's?) and placed a cold compress on the General's forehead. She felt for his temperature, and after deciding that it was best to make a bowl of soup for him, Riza went to the small burning fire outside the tent to heat up some water and the leftover dinner that she had secretly snuck to her tent. Maybe it was a good thing she saved her leftovers.

When she came back inside, she heard a moan come out of the General's lips. "Riza," she heard, then a moment later, "Riza."

"You're delusional, General," was all she said. Just because her superior officer was sick did not mean that she lowered her guard. No, this was a battlefield, she had to keep it up. In Central City, she can lower it the tiniest bit, but not out here. Not out here.

"Ishval," he moaned. "No, no, no."

So that was it. Under the spells of the illness was a Mustang who still had nightmares of the Eastern Rebellion that occurred so many years before. Riza knew. After so many years of having to not only deal with her own wild nightmares that replayed so many nights out there but also take care of Mustang and his flaming nightmares, she knew how to tend to this. But would it be okay? Would she be found out by the higher ups? For all she knew, the Fuhrer could be out there, inspecting the camp.

"I'll take the risk," she muttered under her breath. "It is, after all, for the General's benefit."

She sat down on the portion of the cot that wasn't occupied by Mustang, which was to say, the edge of it. She grasped the man's hand, but then one of her hands mindlessly wandered over to the cold compress on his forehead. It was warm, and Riza got up instantly. She immediately went outside to the water bucket and dipped the cloth in the cold water. Taking it out, she carried it back inside and laid it back on his forehead.

"Cold," he muttered, "it's chilly out here."

For a second, Riza wondered if he was going to catch the influenza going around Sector Four right now, but a thought in her head dismissed the idea. It was the middle of the winter, and he was only wearing a hospital gown right now. Of course he'd be cold. Riza picked up the blanket from the Second Lieutenant's cot and draped it over the General.

"General?" she asked quietly a few hours later. The sun was beginning to rise over the hills to the east.

"Major," came a response. "What happened?"

"You collapsed a few minutes after you came here. What were you thinking? You are obviously not healed yet; you need to stay put in the hospital ward. Now they're going to make you stay overtime and you won't be able to catch up in your work," Riza scolded.

The General hung his head in shame. "Falman, Fuery, Havoc, Breda?"

"All should be in Sector Seven today, working on the cleaning up of the buildings over there," Riza reported. "The bombings were the worst over there. I doubt Aerugo will be making a move between now and a few days from now."

"On the contrary. They will use the time to hopefully kill us all," Mustang sighed. "I should - "

Riza cut him off. "No. That's an order, even if you are higher up than me." Her hand rested on the gun holster, ready to take it out and aim whenever necessary.

"I didn't think so," Mustang sighed reluctantly. "Do you still have them, by the way?"

Riza turned to look at him. "Eat your cold soup, then I'll answer your question."

As Mustang sat up in the cot and began to sip at the liquid, Riza took the time to think. _Why is still concerned about Ishval and those nightmares? Shouldn't he be more concerned for his own? I mean, he did prove to me last night that he still had them, but then again, I also thought about Ishval last night, and those horrors. Though mine were not as bad as his, maybe I didn't kill masses at once with a single snap, but a pull of the trigger and a life ends right then and there, and the last thing you see is an innocent face crumble into nothing._

 _No, I can't let him know that I still scream and cry over it. It's in the past, I should let it stay there. I need to learn from it and move on, not reminisce in it like it only happened yesterday. The Promised Day nightmares are nothing compared to Ishval, why can't I have those a little more?_

 _I didn't feel guilt when I killed the betrayers, maybe it was because they had committed treason against their own country, but I didn't feel remorse. Why can't -_

"Elizabeth, always lost in your thoughts," Roy Mustang commented. "I know what you're thinking. The Eastern Conflict still concerns you?"

"It is nothing," Riza dismissed with a wave of her hand, but Mustang stopped it.

"I am not going to dismiss it as nothing, Elizabeth," Mustang said. "I know you too well for that. You will beat yourself up over it night after night, you will yell in the dead of the night and clutch a blanket harder than you hold a gun, you will cry into this exact pillow right here in the middle of it with teardrops from the rain, you will pretend the thoughts don't exist, but you always forget that I know you too well. So many years spent together with both happy and painful memories, and yet you forget that I, Roy Mustang, know you. Don't pretend, because I can read you like an open book."

Riza said nothing as she stared hard and coldly at the empty cot belonging to the Second Lieutenant. Suck up the tears, Major, don't let him know.

"And I know you're pretending to suck up the tears over there too. You've always been a sucker for some things, and this is one of them, Elizabeth."

 _It's too late, he already knows_ , her conscience says. _You can't fake it any longer, Riza.  
_

"And I know that you see the fire burning every time you blink, every single person that burns to their death. You see buildings catching fire, you see fire burning even in the pits of hell, you see their faces turning into horror as a snap of your fingers ends their innocent life. You see nothing but flames but yet you continue to use it, and I know you suffer oh so painfully as every time there's a snap, there's Ishval replaying again and again, like a tape that rewinds every single second of Ishval. When you sleep, the guard goes down and all there is is Ishval from you, and I know you still suffer, even though you pass it off as the Promised Day the next morning. I see you getting drunk every other week and I know, it's Ishval that got to you that day, regardless of the day's events. Even paperwork makes you remember, and sometimes when I see the fire dimming down in your eyes, I take a portion of your stack, hoping you forget. Then you go out to Madam Christmas's that night, taking the men with you and myself for the supervisor, and you get all drunk and have sexual chat with the ladies that night, trying to forget, even though you remember the scene the very next day. Yes Roy Mustang, you too also forget that I know you and can read you like a book. The simplest turn of your ankle lets me know that you are indeed thinking about the Eastern Conflict, like you are right now."

Roy Mustang shook his hand, letting out a laugh. "I guess we are the pages we write."

"I suppose, if you word it like that. Are you done with your soup?" With a nod of his head, Riza took the bowl and set it in the corner designated for the washing today. "Now, we should get you to the hospital ward, or otherwise - " Riza was cut off by the snores of the General.

"You are always a difficult man when you can be," Riza smiled. Noting the time on her watch, she set an alarm for the next hour. "I suppose we can rest together for the next hour, and then we get up and take you over to get checked at again."

As Roy Mustang, Major General of the Amestrian Military and the Flame Alchemist, laid on his side, Riza climbed into the same cot and was held closely by her superior officer. His hands enveloped around the woman, and her arms were wrapped around his toned abs.

Neither of them dreamed of Ishval or anything particularly horrific for the next hour, and even though they would never admit it themselves, they both quite liked it sleeping together in that position very much.

Neither of them knew that Havoc, Falman, Breda, and Fuery had captured pictures of this event, nor of the money they handed over to each other as they gossiped over their one true pairing. Royai is real, they declared, and left the two of them like that, until their alarm clock shrilly woke them up a few minutes later.

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 **Don't forget to leave me a review below! Reviews are welcome, and guess what? They're free of charge too! :D  
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	2. Skin

**I usually don't write these kinds of stuff; however, I am also the person who refuses to write the same thing as everyone else. Therefore, this one shot is extremely triggering for self-harm. Read at your own risk?** _lol this isn't some sort of dog place idk what i'm thinking about right now - pretty sure my mental health needs to be checked_ _  
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 **Also, I know I don't know people on here (or anywhere really), but if you need someone to talk to, please do not hesitate to contact me through the PM system on here. I won't judge, and I want my readers to feel okay. Love you all, my sweet peas  
**

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Roy Mustang knew every single one of his secret lover's secrets, but unfortunately, he couldn't say vice versa and all that kind of bullshit.

The words of his younger subordinate, Edward Elric, echoed inside his mind, something about exchange and life and equivalent. He was pretty sure that if Edward caught wind of this, he'd not only kick Roy around again, but tell his lover about this and he would surely not see the end to it. After all, the Fullmetal Alchemist did live by the principle of equivalent exchange, along with his brother Alphonse. Though it can be cruel, it is the first law of alchemy, and Fullmetal lived by it to the letter because it was fair for both sides. Also, waste of life would undoubtedly be on his speech to Roy as well, along with useless colonel and needs Hawkeye to keep him in line.

Yes, there was no one out there to truly confide into right now, so now was a good time to self indulge a lot in it and get it over with, or there won't be any time to cover up the evidence that it happened again.

Roy buried his head in his hands for the third time that day. Half his mind was screaming something about how he shouldn't do the thing but the other side was yelling full force about how it was necessary. Roy usually sided with the latter; the feeling was powerful and he usually forgot about the original pain when he did the thing. It was sort of like being drunk, but more pain inflicting and was only a temporary relief for all of about an hour.

 _Maybe I could be drunk off the pain_ , Roy thought. _The pain is way too addicting, like the feeling of beer at three in the morning, and gives me so much more than I could ever have had in Ishval. I, Roy Mustang, control myself now. I shall never succumb to whatever being ruled over in Ishval, that is to say, Fuhrer King Bradley himself._

The other side fought valiantly in order to save the Colonel before he actually did something stupid. Images of Riza Hawkeye actually finding out what the fuck Roy Mustang had been doing for the past five years sort of sent him into a bit of a shock, and Roy had to admit, he was not prepared for any outcome Riza had prepared for him. Then there was Edward, along with some unusual, boring, long speech for him, but he would eventually sum it up in a kick and putting some actual common sense into the man. There were also his other subordinates; no doubt they would do something. Maes, wait no, not him.

The last image of Maes Hughes echoed in the back of his mind and Roy collapsed on the cold hard floor as sobs retched out of his mouth, the tears coming out again. His hands covered his face, and he wiped the tears carefully with his arms. Roy tried to block the bloody stained image of his best friend but failed miserably; it was safe to say he hadn't even tried at all, and if he did, it was a feeble attempt.

 _No_ , he thought. If there was even a God above, if there was a Heaven in which Maes is looking down from, would he had wanted to see his best friend like this? Perhaps not. Actually, Maes would beat Roy to a pulp before he thought he would let him see the light again...and then beat him to a pulp again as he stuck something called common sense in his mind. However, he wasn't here, and silently Roy began to blame himself for not cherishing the moments he had with his best friend.

 _Maybe_ , his conscience said, _you should attempt human transmutation for him, even if you know the result. But you and I both know that you could have saved his life, and you didn't. He probably blames you for that up there as he dances away in Heaven._

 _No_ , Roy thought, _he would never. Maes Hughes was the type of person who would not blame Roy for anything he did, even if they were his doing. Maes would forgive him for his sins...wouldn't he?_

 _Of course not_ , his conscience said, _don't you know the demonic side of your best friend? Or was Maes Hughes a braver man than you gave him credit for, simply because he put up with you since you both were eighteen and got through Ishval nearly unscatched. But secretly, he blames you for getting the promotions he wanted, for being a skillful alchemist, even for letting him die that night alone with Envy shapeshifting into the people he loves the most._

"No," Roy quietly said, clenching his fist with his right hand.

He ambled towards the bathroom, seemingly having made his decision. Tear pricked from the corners of his eyes and spilled out into the bathroom sink. Letting out several choked sobs over the huge loss of his best friend, and how he couldn't save him, Roy brought his fist up and collided it with the mirror. He never once looked at his miserable reflection glaring back at him, mocking his very existence. The glass shards from the mirror dropped from the mirror and onto several places: the bathroom floor, the bathroom counter, and the bathroom sink. Some of the glass shards ended up wedged in his fist, and Roy for the first time noticed the blood all over the bathroom floor. Dried and fresh blood alike decorated the white tiles everywhere, and it somehow eased Roy's mind the slightest bit. What pain he should have felt when he punched the mirror containing his reflection made his hand throb like a maniac, but oddly enough, it was refreshing for the man.

Yes, Roy Mustang felt drunk, drunk under the influence of pain and hurt and the mind numbing conscience that forced him to see reality and not dance in his fantasies, and he was enjoying himself at the exact same time.

"Hughes," he whispered, unclenching his bleeding fist, "why couldn't I have saved you that night?"

Roy let out another choked sob and then focused on his deep breathing. He doesn't pay attention to the salty tears dripping from the corners of his eyes as they fall down onto the messy floor; no, his breathing had to be tended to beforehand. Deep breath in, he thought, deep breath out. Do it, steady, you can do it.

 _No you can't_ , the familiar voice laughed, _he's still there, mocking your existence._

Right now, Roy could barely see anything in front of him. The tears clouded his vision, and Roy could barely make out the soap container sitting right in front of him. He shifted right, trying to get away from a huge shard of glass that still held his reflection, something he could not stand to look at right now. His foot met glass and pain shot up his right leg, worse than the pain in his right fist. Stumbling backwards in pain, Roy managed to slip on the bathroom tile and fall onto the ground. Luckily, his head met the bath rug next to the shower, and he only ended up with a minor headache from the impact of the fall.

However, right next to the shower also was a cabinet, and the third drawer on the left contained the thing that would bring about his Hell for real.

Roy saw the drawer and images of nights before bounced around in his mind. The nights immediately after Ishval were the worst, as Roy recalled. Those nights involved lots of nightmares, lots of flames, and lots of blood being spilled out in the bathroom. Somehow then, the red liquid didn't make it to the floor...so when did blood appear on the tiles? Roy decided that in the morning, when he was feeling somewhat okay, he would clean up the bathroom so that his lieutenant doesn't decide to murder him tomorrow.

 _Although that would be a good thing, Hawkeye kicking your ass for the final time_ , a voice laughed. _And you know it too, Roy Mustang._

"I can be better than this," Roy stumbled across his words shakily, trying to be confident in whatever he was saying in his more unconscious state of mind, but to no avail. "I can..." he trailed off.

Unconvinced by his words, he opened up the third drawer and drew out the weapon, the bringer of Hell. Just as he was about to snap off the cover of the object, Roy was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone in the living room, which snapped him out of his depressed and moody state. He limped out of the bathroom, still aware of the throb in his right foot, but didn't notice the trail of blood behind him, nor realizing that the size of the blood puddles were getting bigger with each drop.

When he made it to the living room, he picked up the ringing telephone with his left hand, the one not bleeding, and answered it. "Mustang residence, Roy Mustang on the line."

"Sir, I've received a message from Havoc about the whereabouts of the Paper Alchemist. Would you like me to brief you on it tonight?" The familiar voice of First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye responded, and Roy couldn't help but to be dazed by her voice.

"No, I was about to hit the hay for the night. Perhaps this can be done in the morning? Or is this urgent information that has to be attended to tonight?" Roy could not help but to sound annoyed at the very end, but he had to cover up the whole mess of his apartment or secrets will come loose.

"That doesn't sound like you at all, Colonel. Are you okay?" Hawkeye's voice turned towards concern, and Roy almost cursed out loud. Of course his lieutenant would notice the sudden change in tone, they have known each other for a while.

"I'm okay," came his response, though Roy didn't believe it at all.

Nor did Hawkeye apparently. "I'm coming to your place in five minutes," was all she said before the line went dead on her end and right before Roy began to have one of his more severe panic attacks over the fact that she was going to find it all out and that he was royally fucked right now if he didn't do something.

And before he could ever muster up the ability to move towards the bathroom, the effects of blood loss began to settle in. A wave of dizziness overcame Roy in a matter of seconds, and before he really knew it, he fell to the ground, knocking him out like a shattered light in a dirty room.

* * *

It was the afternoon of the next day when he stirred from his unconscious state of mind.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had entered the apartment using the spare key from underneath the potted plant outside the door, not long after Roy had fainted. It was a good thing that the Colonel had informed her of the whereabouts of his spare key, or otherwise he would not have been carried into his bedroom, tucked under the covers, with his fist and foot bandaged tightly.

But then again, his very last secret that he had kept hidden from Riza was now exposed, and he supposed it was his fault this time for this.

Sighing, he shifted over on the bed, noticing a note on the nightstand and what seemed like a snack lying right next to it. Using his uninjured hand, he reached for the note first. He opened it up, expecting to see some poetic speech from the lieutenant about his stupidity and other stuff along those lines. What he found was nothing he had expected.

 _ **I cleaned up your apartment. You could at least keep your place tidy, Colonel. Lunch and dinner have both been prepared in advance, and it's in the microwave in the kitchen. Keep the bathroom door shut. Havoc's downstairs if you need anything.**_

Somehow, the bluntness of the note struck Roy as something funny, and he started to laugh out loud. The part of Havoc being downstairs was the odd part of the note though. Roy wondered why the lieutenant wasn't here herself, but then again, she already had done more than enough for him. Roy decided to let her have her own space and to stay in bed for the rest of the day.

He reached over to the snack, which was a box containing six fortune cookies. One for each of his subordinates, and Roy wondered if it was a coincidence or if it was something that the office had actually concocted themselves.

"If you were wondering, it was indeed the office who had done that," a feminine voice replied. Roy almost broke his neck when he turned his head so quickly to see his female officer standing at the doorway, a small smile on her face. She was obviously laughing inside about the fortune cookies.

"Lieutenant," Roy managed to say without cracking his voice. She saluted him before Roy waved at her to drop the act.

To be honest, Roy was definitely feeling the chills radiating off of Riza Hawkeye right now. Perhaps she had done something in the office today to have warranted her mood, but Roy was fairly sure that he was the main cause of it, and he had better fix it fast if he wanted to escape the talk he was bound to get at this rate. Gulping, he attempted to get out of the bed, but Riza was faster and pushed him back in before he could even swing his legs over. For added measure, she climbed onto the bed with him, sitting on the edge of it rather than lying down next to him. Roy supposed he had no way out of this now.

"Edward has finished his annual assessment in Eastern Command, just so you know," Riza started. Roy was baffled at first, but soon regained his normal composure.

"With flying colors, I expect?" he smirked. His younger subordinate was known not only for his reckless things but for also passing the State Alchemist tests with flying colors. Riza nodded her head.

"What were you expecting?" she asked, a smile dancing on her lips. What Roy would do to be able to kiss them, he didn't know.

"I suppose I should send him on a mission tomorrow. No doubt you brought the paperwork as well?" Roy chuckled as Riza exited the room and entered again with a pile high of paperwork that he had missed today in the office. Mentally, he groaned.

"He and his brother are out of town for the rest of the week. It's that time of the year, and he is probably out in the West researching something over there. I doubt he wants to be seen or heard from for a little bit," Riza said. Roy nodded.

"Make sure he at least checks into Western Command. We don't need a repeat of Briggs, now do we?"

"I shall send him a telegram with the information, sir," Riza saluted. She left the room again, leaving Roy to his own devices. However she came back a few minutes later, carrying two steaming hot bowls of Xingese food. She handed one of them to Roy, along with a pair of chopsticks. "Eat your dinner and fortune cookies."

Roy sat up in bed and thanked the lieutenant for the food. In between spoonfuls, he asked, "How was the office today?"

Riza sighed, and Roy took that as the answer he needed for his question. He also knew that he had breached into that area, and it was high time he get under the covers and deflect all the questions coming his way. He knew the lieutenant was going to be scary about this, and he should probably -

Riza interrupted him from his thoughts with a hit on the head. Her frown appeared on her face, and Roy shrinked back in fear. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then no, I'm not doing that tonight. However, I do have the sudden urge to call you a duncebucket for the rest of the year if you really want some sort of punishment."

Relief washed over the colonel like an ocean wave washing over the shore of a beach, although the threat of being called a duncebucket for the rest of the year was slightly terrifying. Speaking of the beach, he should assign a beach vacation trip next summer for his men in Aerugo. Riza's frown somewhat changed back into the smile she wore earlier, though she kept her demeanor about the issue.

"To answer your question, the office was quieter than usual. However, I do have photographic evidence of them playing strip poker during work."

Roy could see the laugh Riza was holding back, and he asked to see the pictures. Riza dug them out of her coat and handed them over to her superior officer. After glancing at them briefly, and seeing Master Sergeant Kain Fuery completely naked other than his boxer shorts, Roy immediately guffawed at the pictures. He threw the pictures in the air and had Riza sort of restrain him from actually falling off the bed, because these pictures were some of the best pictures he's seen in his short life.

When he (and Riza, since she took the opportunity to laugh as well with Roy) finally stopped laughing, he asked, "Can I keep these?"

"After I make copies of these and use them as blackmail, yes," Riza stated. Roy, for a moment, thought she was joking, but then after seeing the seriousness written on her face, realized that she was actually being serious about this. Roy nodded in approval.

"Why the strip poker?" he asked. "You all managed to get some work done, am I right?"

"More than you did all this week," Riza teased. "Even Havoc offered to do half your stack."

"Why didn't he then?"

"Most of these require a colonel's signature, not a Second Lieutenant's signature," Riza replied. "Originally your work stack was much higher than this, but it's now only this much compared to this morning."

"I guess I'll have to sign those tonight, won't I?" Roy asked, picking up the pen from his nightstand.

"Maybe. This is also your workload for the week. I have already requested for you to be absent all week due to a mission in Lior."

"What mission in Lior?" Roy inquired, frowning. He had no desire to go out there, opting instead for Briggs and dealing with Major General Armstrong rather than to go out into the rioting city.

"One that I made up on the spot. Don't worry, Vanessa is currently in Lior carrying out your "mission" so that you have something at least to cover for your absence at work."

"Excellent work as always, First Lieutenant," Roy commented.

The clock ticked ten o'clock at night, and Roy hadn't noticed how fast the time had gone by. Darkness covered the most part of Amestris now, and Roy supposed that Riza had better go home before something bad happens to her. Opening his mouth to speak, he tried to say something but Riza shut him up faster than a bullet train colliding into Central Station.

"I know you, Roy Mustang. I'm staying over for the night. Also, Havoc went home around three in the afternoon, in case you were wondering about his wellbeing as well."

Roy shook his head, smiling. "Why do I try around you again, lieutenant?"

Riza smiled. "Your arrogance sometimes gets the better of you, and sometimes the voices in your head get you before your arrogance, and sometimes you just forget that I am here. You forget that the voices in your head are still there from Ishval and that you need to not let them control you, lest we repeat history once more."

"And that I should probably actually refill the tablet bottle this week and not leave it for later," Roy said out loud.

Riza turned to glare at him. "Do you mean to say that you forgot to refill it again? Colonel, that is the sixth time this year! No wonder I am always picking up the pieces in the end!" She groaned and left the room. When she returned, she came back with the empty medicine bottle and a glare that could kill Roy in a matter of seconds.

Roy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry?" he offered.

"I'm calling Havoc to have him refill this right now. He will probably be sleeping at this hour but I am sure he won't mind running the errand."

Riza left the bedroom once more to make the telephone call to Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, leaving Roy alone. He swung his legs over the bed, and this time, he actually got a good look at the bandages on his foot.

It was obvious now why Riza Hawkeye had basically forced Roy to stay in bed the entire day. His foot, or what he could make out of it, was swollen and purple, almost as if it were bruised. Heavy bandages were wrapped tightly around his foot but not tightly enough so that blood circulation would be cut off. Riza definitely knew her first aid when she needed it. Holding up his right hand up in the air where he could actually see it, the bandages on it were not as thick as his foot, but wrapped tight enough. It was thin enough so that he could still hold a pen and chopsticks and do some work while he was on leave, but it still kind of annoyed Roy that he had made her do the work and she had probably suffered at the same time. If there was one weakness they both shared, it was each other.

Fifteen minutes later, Riza came walking back into the room, holding up the medicine bottle and a slip of paper. Roy wasn't paying attention to either one of them right now though. Instead, his attention span was focused on the dark circles around Riza's eyes, and he figured that she hasn't gotten much sleep recently. He silently took both of them and dismissed her for some sleep. She nodded, and left the room. Roy picked up the paper first, deciding that the message was probably of some importance.

 ** _I apologize sir but it had to be done for everyone's sake. Dr. Lowell, 3 p.m. tomorrow. Don't be late._**

Roy sighed. He had sort of expected this, but he had also hoped to not do this. There were certain reasons as to why, but Riza had obviously thought Roy was more important than his reasons to not see him. A feeling of love surged through him and he found himself smiling because of it. Picking up the medicine bottle, he read the label. He opened up the bottle and dropped two tablets in. Grabbing the water bottle off of the nightstand, he swallowed the medicine.

Not even two minutes later, Roy Mustang fell into a dreamless sleep, with his lover Riza Hawkeye joining him several minutes later.

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 **I don't think I'm really satisfied with this ending; however, I had to stop it somewhere...anyways let me know what you think of this by leaving me a review below :-) also don't kill me for doing this kind of fic I'm sorry if anything happened (should let me know in the comments if it instigated something or if I'm wrong about something)**

 **Again, don't forget to leave me a review! Any and all reviews are welcome!  
**


	3. Telephone

**Let's lighten up the mood after the first two dark one shots, shall we? :-) It's about time we did that, plus fluff time! Royai fluff is so precious and cute  
**

 **Don't forget to read and review, please!**

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Edward Elric hardly ever recalled a day when the colonel actually summoned him to his office for a game that he had set up that day.

The colonel had told him to be in his office by five o'clock sharp - any later and he would be courtmartialed. Edward obviously hadn't believed him when he said that. Colonel Roy Mustang was always soft hearted when it came to things like that. Despite the fact that he might look and act like a tough guy that actually sticks to the rules, Edward knew him better than that - and so he turned up at the office three minutes after five, with Alphonse trailing behind.

He kicked the door open with his automail left leg and walked straight inside, directly to the Colonel himself. "What do you want today, Mustang?" he slurred, even though he was sober. No, it was more because of the fact that Edward was more annoyed at his superior officer than usual.

"Yo, boss!" Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc called out from his desk. "How's it goin'?"

"It's alright, I guess," Edward shrugged, returning the waves of Falman, Fuery, and Breda. He turned to Mustang. "I found a lead to the cereal box case and I was gonna check it out but then you dragged me in here for something. Bastard."

Mustang ignored the derogatory comment and smirked. "Oh really? What's the lead, Fullmetal?" For added effect, he propped his legs up on the desktop and folded his arms.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye shot him a look. "Legs off the desk, or you can buy a new one using next week's paycheck," she scolded the Colonel. She grabbed her gun off the desk to show that she was serious about this. Mustang quickly got his legs off the desk. Hawkeye then turned to Edward and saluted him. "Hello, Edward."

"Hi, Lieutenant. You going anywhere?" Edward asked, as Hawkeye took a stack of papers and shoved them into her work bag.

"I'm being called down to conference room number five for a brief meeting regarding the cereal box case. Did you mention a lead to it, by the way?"

"Yeah, well apparently the guy's a former State Alchemist who uses food, the one holy thing in the world, to destroy other food, and in turn, us as well. I kind of figured that with all the farmland down in the South, he might be there because one of his specialties is killing crops through unknown diseases that just crop up because of him, excuse the pun." Edward shrugged. "I want to go down to the South and see if he's there."

"That's an interesting theory," Mustang began. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I'll let you and Alphonse go to South City and track down the alchemist, but no destroying things. At the rate you're going in, your research budget will run dry and you won't be able to research how to get your original bodies back."

Edward glared at the Colonel with hardened eyes. "It's not my fault that they tried to fight me in the process!"

"Oh? So how about the incident at the East City Central Fairgrounds?" Mustang asked innocently, as he tossed an apple up and down.

"Colonel, please stop provoking him," Hawkeye sighed and checked her watch. "I really must be going now. The meeting starts in ten minutes and I don't want to be late." She turned to Edward and patted his head. "Thank you for the information, Edward. It'll be of some use to us, at least, now that we have a lead."

Edward gave her a small smile. "You're welcome, Lieutenant."

Then Riza Hawkeye departed the office, and the entire office chorused a goodbye for her. Then Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda stood up and dragged his chair in front of the Colonel's desk, and Warrant Officer Vato Falman followed his lead. Soon the rest of the office had picked up on the game, that is to say everyone but Edward and Alphonse.

Alphonse and Edward both exchanged glances. They were obviously lost in whatever the Colonel had planned at this hour, and they wanted to know what was going on.

Falman rested his arm around Edward, while Master Sergeant Kain Fuery poked Alphonse's armor lightly to get his attention. Havoc called out to the Elric brothers, "Grab a chair and pull it up into this line!" He waved to them and pointed to where the chairs might go. Alphonse and Edward looked at each other again skeptically, then they both seized the nearest chair and pulled it up into the line of chairs.

"Find a seat, men. We're going to play a game," Mustang commanded.

Everyone in the room saluted (with the exception of Edward) and took a seat in a chair. Edward was forced to sit in the chair next to his commanding officer (which he did not like one bit), with Alphonse next to him. Breda slouched in the chair next to Falman and Havoc, and Fuery was squished in between Falman and Alphonse. Mustang sat on one end of the row, while Havoc sat on the other end.

"We're going to play the telephone game," Havoc said. "We all know how it works right?" When he said this, however, he looked at Edward straight in the eye. Edward picked up on the fact that Havoc suspected he didn't know how to play.

"Jeez Havoc, I know how to play this," Edward said. "We played it a lot in the school at Resembool. I'm not dumb, you idiot. And neither is Al."

"I didn't say you were, chief!" Havoc defended, but Breda tugged at the sleeve of the military uniform on Havoc. Muttering a string of curses, Havoc reluctantly sat down in his chair.

"Whenever you're ready, Havoc," Mustang said as he tossed his right leg over his left one. He folded his arms, giving him the demeanor of a lazy Colonel screwing around with his men.

Shame he didn't notice the very mischievous look on Havoc's face as he whispered a message to Breda.

When Breda received the entire message, everyone saw his face turned a bright shade of red as he looked at Havoc again. He gave him a questioning look, but Havoc merely waved it off and beckoned him to tell Falman next. Breda's cheeks grew hot again as he turned a darker shade of red. He slowly turned to Falman and cupped his hands to his ear. He slowly repeated the message, with Falman listening avidly to every word. When Breda was done, the Warrant Officer covered his mouth with his hand.

"Havoc, really?" Falman asked, looking at him dead in the eye.

Jean Havoc grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "You bet your sorry ass."

"Wicked," Breda and Falman said in unison, smirks growing bigger with every passing second.

Falman eagerly turned to Fuery, who was sitting in his seat anxiously for the message. Falman also cupped his hands to his ear and repeated the message. At the end of the message, Fuery's eyes widened and he also turned a shade of fire engine red. He looked at Havoc through his glasses and then at Breda and Falman. The three of them shrugged, pretending to not know anything about it. Understanding that he wasn't going to get a clear cut answer at this time, Fuery turned to Alphonse.

"How should I tell Alphonse the message?" Fuery asked.

The entire room froze for a second, as everyone turned to look at each other. Realizing that Alphonse had no set of ears to listen to, Mustang decided that the best course of action to take was to put Alphonse in the Colonel's private office so that Fuery could relay the message quietly while not telling Edward and Mustang the message. Then Alphonse would tell Edward to come into the office and relay the message, and then everyone would come out of the private office and end the game with Edward telling Mustang the message, and then Mustang telling everyone the final message.

"Good plan, Colonel," Havoc commented. "Alright, Fuery, Al, get in there already."

Breda shoved Alphonse into the room, while Fuery dragged himself inside after the armor. Several minutes passed before Fuery actually left the private room, reddened like a beet with tears in both of his eyes. Worrying looks were communicated across the room, with no one knowing the answer. Mustang picked Edward up after a few seconds of him not moving and dumped him into his private office. Falman shut the door behind them.

Another few painful minutes passed by before the two Elric brothers left the office. If Alphonse's face could show emotion, he would be smiling sheepishly, trying to hide a laugh, as he watched his brother not swell up in front of the Colonel and embarrass himself when he relayed the final message.

"Why did I have to get stuck with you, you bastard?" Edward complained, kicking the chair leg.

Mustang rolled his eyes. "Funny, I was going to ask the same thing, Fullmetal. Now sit down and tell me the message."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Your loss, I guess."

Giving the entire room one of his famous smirks, Edward leaned into the Colonel's ear and whispered the final message. When he had finished, Colonel Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, was blushing as he froze in his chair, not moving an inch. Everyone in the room mentally photographed his face as he didn't move for several minutes.

Havoc, obviously getting tired of the Colonel's reaction already, whined impatiently, "What's the final message?" No one saw how his face turned from a little kid face to one more suited for his pranking self.

Mustang glared at Havoc. If looks could kill, Havoc would have died at least forty seven times by now. "I'm going to murder you one of these days, I swear." He pulled up his gloves to add emphasis to the death threat. Havoc still looked unfazed by his reaction, however.

"Hurry up, Mustang, I don't have all day," Edward groaned.

"Yeah, Colonel, I have a date tonight at seven with Raina, and I don't want to be late," Breda stated. "She almost dumped me last week because I was three minutes late! Can you believe it?"

"Yes Breda, I can. You have mentioned it at least four hundred eighty two times by now," Falman responded. Obviously embarrassed the slightest bit, Breda slouched back in his chair.

"I hate all of you," Mustang mumbled. Then under his breath, he muttered a few words.

"Colonel, that defeats the purpose of the telephone game. No one heard what you just said," Fuery stated, with everyone nodding.

"Say it again, only louder," Havoc grinned. Behind his back, he was holding a recording device to record the final message - that is, if Mustang got the right final message.

"Absolutely not," Mustang said. "You made the worst message in all of the history of Amestris, Havoc."

Edward kicked his commanding officer in the shin when he wasn't looking. When Mustang turned around to glare at Edward, he said, "Look, I'm sorry that I had to kick you, and I'll accept whatever punishment there is - even though I'm not really sorry at all - but just repeat the damn message and then we're all done in here and we can go home. Plus, I doubt she'll hear it."

Mustang sighed, looking around anxiously. He was nervous, he had to admit it. He wondered what she would say if she overhead the final message. "Fine. I want to fuck Riza Hawkeye in bed tonight."

"Excuse me sir, what did you just say?" a feminine voice said in an amused tone. Everyone looked towards the doorway in horror as they saw Rebecca Catalina leaning on the doorway, a playful smirk on her face.

"Becca, darling!" Havoc cheered, wrapping his arm around the Second Lieutenant. "How's it going?" He gave her a wide smile.

"Were you guys playing the telephone game?" Rebecca asked, looking at everyone in the room. Nods were given in response. "Betting five hundred cenz Jean here made up the message. Am I right?"

"Yes," everyone except for Havoc chorused. Havoc instead looked down at the ground, thinking that it looked really nice right now rather than his girlfriend's face.

Rebecca Catalina marched up to her boyfriend and flicked him in the ear. "Great message, Jean, but you should be careful, the message might have been received by the wrong person." She turned her upper body towards the door and shouted, "Oh Riza darling, you can come out now!"

Every single person in the room looked at the door with wide eyes and dropped jaws as the First Lieutenant marched into the room with a look that could kill a mass group faster than the Flame Alchemist when he snaps. A few people cowered back in fear, hoping that there would be some mercy on them. Mustang especially took a few steps back; after all, he was the one who said the message out loud in the first place.

"What was that all about, sir?" she coldly asked her superior officer. Mustang cowered back in fear, almost tripping over the chair in the process.

"N-nothing, Lieutenant," he stuttered, trying to cover up what had just went down. He waved his hands frantically in front of his body as well.

"Oh really?" The Lieutenant's eyebrows arched. "Then I don't suppose you know what this is?" Catching the recording device that Havoc had had earlier, she replayed it in front of everyone. Mustang listened in horror as he heard himself say the message.

Mustang dropped to his knees at the end of the recording, pretending to sob. "Forgive me, Lieutenant! They forced me into playing this game!"

"Last time I checked, you were involved in Havoc and Catalina's plan, and well aware of what was going to happen." Hawkeye's arms were folded across her chest.

"They didn't tell me that they were going to say something like this!" Mustang defended.

"Then you should've known that Havoc was going to do something like that," Riza scolded. "Although that was a lovely message all by itself…" She trailed off, lost in her own thoughts.

"S-so you're not mad?" Mustang asked, fear well heard in his voice.

"I'm still angry, you idiotic Colonel," Riza glared at him, her more threatening face having returned from wherever. "But if you want to, we could do it…"

"No!" screamed everyone except for the two of them in the office. They knew what their commanding officer had meant by those words, and if they didn't leave now, they would be scarred for a lifetime. Within a matter of seconds, everyone but Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye had deserted the area without so much of a goodbye or dismissal, leaving the two of them to their own devices.

"So what do you say that I take you out to dinner and then we can go to my place for the night?" Roy asked his Lieutenant.

"Just stay out of the military's watchful eye, and we'll be okay," Riza nodded, embracing her Colonel into a hug.

Hugs weren't going to kill the two of them...not just yet, at least.

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 **Anyone else love Royai a whole lot? I really liked writing this one shot, it was so cute (especially the end) and Mustang's embarrassment is wonderful in front of his Lieutenant!**

 **Again, please review below! :-)**


	4. Understanding

**So. Much. Fluff. I hope you all like the fluffy stuff in here, and all the Royai I've given you all so far! What are your thoughts on Royai through my one shots?**

 **As usual, don't forget to read and review at the end!**

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Fuhrer Roy Mustang originally thought that with the position of Fuhrer, the highest ranking position in the Amestrian State Military, he would be able to bypass any law and do whatever he feels best. Unfortunately, he couldn't. One would imagine that he did the next best thing, but the newly empowered Parliament wasn't able to pass a law which would override the ancient law.

Therefore, the Fuhrer was not pleased about it and in turn, was in a bad mood during his date with his current girlfriend.

The couple were holding hands as they walked into the five star gourmet restaurant in the downtown part of Central City. The weather had definitely cleared up from the heavy rain earlier that week, and the night sky was absolutely clear tonight to prove it. Streetlamps around the happy couple were lit up brightly, illuminating the street paths, as if they were celebrating the coming of the duo. The only sounds in the city that night were of the cars' engines roaring in the distance and the occasional dog barking from someone's house.

Inside the restaurant were many chairs and tables all organized in their respective ways. One of the waiters that night was told by the owner of the place to escort the Fuhrer and his longtime girlfriend of one year to a special room set up especially for them. Having imagined a romantic scenario, the couple were not at all surprised by the single table and two accompanying chairs, nor by the vases decorating the room with its lovely and fragrant flowers, nor by the vanilla scented candles that illuminated the room.

The waiter led each of them to their chairs and gave them their menus for the night. Roy, having thanked the waiter for serving them that night, bowed. Riza Hawkeye smiled and thanked the waiter as well with her usual fond smile that Roy had grown to love over the past decade. The appreciated waiter bowed and left the couple alone, as his boss had suggested to do at the request of Roy.

"Extravagant decorations, wouldn't you say, Elizabeth?" Roy asked, looking into the eyes of his now promoted Colonel Hawkeye.

Riza, pretending to be Elizabeth, tossed her hair around like a girl and took out a pocket mirror to recheck her facial features again for the sixth time that night. So maybe it wasn't just for show, maybe the Colonel herself wanted to look presentable for her boyfriend, but she did it anyways. "I would have to agree with you, Roy," Riza smiled, twirling one of her locks. In a more flouncy tone she said, "Really, the more there are, the more tacky the room sort of looks. But then again, romance is tacky."

"Let loose a little more, Elizabeth," Roy suggested. "We could let loose in the hotel tonight if you want." He winked, letting his girlfriend know that it was more of a suggestive comment rather than one of his really serious ones.

"You know of my beliefs, babe." Riza tried out the new word, but was uncomfortable with the use of the word. It made her feel so locked into the ever changing modern environment surrounding her and to be fairly honest, the word was so unlike her real persona. She decided to not use the term again unless the pair was under careful scrutiny regarding their personal relationship with one another, which would probably be sometime next week if she was lucky. "No sex until marriage, Roy."

Roy patted the hand that Riza had extended on the table. "Of course, my darling Liz. Anything for my baby." He gave her a genuine smile, one that really lit up most of Roy's attractive features, and Riza could not help but to fall in love with those beautiful, flawless perfections all over again.

Roy picked up her hand and kissed it tenderly, putting much of his love for Riza into it. Riza's cheeks immediately went from flesh coloured to one resembling a beet, but honestly, who wouldn't blush over a sweet kiss from their lover boy? She held onto her lover's hand tightly, always wanting his presence wherever she went. Not only was it for protection of each other's backs, but to know that they were beside each other, always there for the other one in case the other needed it. Their mutual understanding of their partner ran deep, and goes far back into their history. Riza could not remember a time where Roy wasn't really there for her when she truly needed it, and she believed Roy felt the same way.

They held each other's hand for a short while until their waiter came back. Realizing that they haven't even speculated the menu yet, they giggled to themselves and smiled sheepishly to the waiter. Roy had to explain to their waiter that they haven't touched their menu yet. Thankfully, the waiter understood the circumstance and allowed them a few more minutes to actually peruse the menu like they should have ages ago. After he departed the room again, Riza let out a laugh.

"Only you would forget to open up a menu, Roy," she laughed, covering the beautiful sound with her hand.

Roy shook his head in amusement. "Says the hypocrite who hasn't touched their menu either," he chuckled as he opened up the menu for the first time that night. Riza sent him a glare, but he pretended not to see it. Riza took that as a sign and decided to open up her menu as well.

The couple was silent for a few moments as they scanned the menu quickly. After having read and sign vital documents for the former Fuhrers in a limited amount of time due to the laziness of Roy Mustang himself, the task of scanning a menu was easy. Roy set down the menu only moments after Riza had, and they both looked at each other.

"I think I'm more hungry for some fish lips," Roy said absentmindedly, leaning back in his chair.

Riza rolled her eyes. "First of all, are you implying that your girlfriend has fish lips? Second of all, don't kill yourself when you lean back." Using the tips of her fingers, she drummed on the table a little bit.

"Of course not!" Roy said defensively, waving his hands frantically. "Why would I say such an insulting statement?"

"I have no idea, but you kind of did," Riza said, her face emotionless.

Roy's jaw dropped in horror at what he had just done. His face started to turn into a bright shade of red, red for embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, Elizabeth! I didn't mean to say it like that! Will you ever find it in your precious heart to forgive your darling Royboy?"He stuck out his bottom lip as he looked up to Riza.

Riza laughed. She picked up the menu on the table again, covering her reddening face as she laughed some more. When she was finally done laughing at her boyfriend, she set the menu flat down on the table. "Relax. I didn't take it personally."

Roy let out a huge sigh of relief. "Phew."

"Watch your language, sir," Riza said, imitating her usual work tone. "Your Colonel can be demanding sometimes. I applaud her, however. At least she can keep you in line and make you do your work."

"I know, she can be a pain in my ass most of the time," Roy nodded. "But she's my pain in the ass, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Riza smiled. "I would have killed you if you said anything otherwise."

"What a girlfriend I've reaped; she's willing to shoot me," Roy muttered. "On another note, what do you want for dinner tonight, my darling? It's all on me tonight."

Riza thought about it for a moment. "I would like the lemon pepper chicken and Aerugian bread with the garlic mashed potatoes and corn on the side. Yourself?"

"I was thinking about ordering their seafood special," Roy answered, licking his lips. Then he took a good look at his girlfriend's face, seeing the wide eyes and maybe even hives breaking out on her face. "Oh, you're that girlfriend."

It was no secret between them that Roy had a mouth for anything that came out of the water. Maybe it was because of his Xingese heritage, but maybe he really did like seafood in general. Normally, Riza could not eat seafood because of the usual excuse of ' _it doesn't settle in my stomach very well_ ', but the truth was (and Roy knew this) that Riza absolutely hated the smell of seafood and was highly allergic to shellfish to make it even worse.

"And what exactly did you mean by that?" Riza asked sharply.

Roy inched back in his chair slightly. "I forgot!" he defended instantaneously. "And you know I have to keep up appearances in the public eye, so I go through girls faster than ever! Honestly, do they ever learn that I'm not interested in their damn selves?" He folded his arms across his chest, letting out a 'hmph'.

"I apologize, Roy. I forget about your job and your public appearance," Riza bowed. "May I ask though, where is our waiter?"

"Oh, right," Roy said, nodding his head. He looked left and right, wondering if he was hiding in the shadows. Though Roy would never admit it, the light would sometimes bother him in situations like this where the lights were dim and the Homunculus Pride had a way to use himself. "I hope he comes back in soon, I would like to order something this year."

"Keep your sarcastic comments to yourself for your own safety," was all Riza said. "What are you going to order instead, Roy?"

"Maybe I will take the chicken noodle soup with the caesar salad and Aerugian fries to top it all off," Roy replied. "Not exactly a great combination, but it'll do."

"Your eating habits are awfully strange for someone like yourself," Riza commented, hiding a giggle. "I should educate you on how to pair up food. Aerugian fries and chicken noodle soup do not belong together on the same platter!"

"Only during your lunch break, Lizzybear," Roy replied. "I wouldn't want to upset your boss when you're on duty."

"My boss is usually upset when trivial matters appear or when important matters appear. He is a useless boss, after all."

Roy froze up for a second, but as he read Riza's face, he realized that she was merely teasing him like they used to so many years before. He let out a chuckle, smiling fondly at the memories they had made together so long ago.

"You remember when we went fishing for the first time together, right?" Roy asked, seeing the images in his mind. Riza's face when he had caught his first fish, and the electricity that ran through his body when Riza had touched him for the first time. Yes, that one day held so many firsts for the pair of them, and Roy never forgot it, ever.

"Why would I forget that day?" Riza smiled fondly. "You were so cute and innocent in those early days. I don't think we realized how wrong about the world we were."

"I remember those talks we would do on the hill behind your house. The summer nights out there were beautiful, Liz. The stars, especially, how they shine for you," Roy smiled in return. "They were so pretty, pretty like you, m'dear."

"Oh how you charm me so much," Riza smiled, twirling another one of her long blonde locks. "I doubt you know how to insult very well." She stuck her tongue out.

"Would you like to find out?" Roy asked, fiddling with his girlfriend's fingers. Riza would not admit it out loud, but the shock she felt as Roy touched them carelessly made her feel so giddy inside, she couldn't hide the smile on her face anymore.

The waiter entered the room before Riza could really give Roy a straight answer to his question. He offered the couple drinks, to which Riza asked for water and Roy ordered a cup of wine to top off his dinner. Riza hoped that he wouldn't go too far tonight in the wine. She knew how well Roy could party when he wanted to.

"One of my servants will be right back with your drinks," he bowed. "What would you both like for dinner?"

"I will have the special combination number two," Riza said, holding up two fingers like a peace sign.

"And I shall have the regular combination number eight with a side of Aerugian fries," Roy nodded. "All of this goes onto my tab, of course."

"As you wish, Fuhrer Mustang," the waiter bowed once again. "I will be right back." He then made a dash for the door and left again.

Thirty minutes later, after being served their drinks, the couple received their dinners for the night. The couple conversed over trivial topics that had nothing to do with themselves nor the country's affairs as they munched on the delicious food. They discussed the upcoming wedding ceremony of Edward Elric, now a Lieutenant General under Roy's command and Riza's new superior officer, and his automail mechanic and childhood best friend, Winry Rockbell. They both kept close contact with Roy and Riza, and Edward most often than not allowed Riza to forgo her work in her department to make sure her boyfriend was actually doing his own work. Edward more often than not worked in Roy's office, complaining that 'he couldn't do his paperwork in his silent office'.

"I'm happy that they finally found the happiness they've been looking for for a long time now," Riza sighed, gazing out of the window. "Ed and Al, I mean. And Winry too. She's been with them since the first day, and she's dealt with just as much hardships as the brothers. Say, how's Alphonse by the way?"

"He is still researching in Xing, but Fullmetal reckons that he'll be back in Amestris within the next year and will take his State Alchemist test that year too," Roy said. "I wouldn't mind having his brother in the ranks as well. He's already gone through Hell and back, doing State things should be easier. Fullmetal's clearly done his share of it." Roy reflected back on the time before the Promised Day, when Edward was running around Amestris with his brother trapped in the armor with only his soul. It had definitely been a time to be around in, even if Fullmetal gave him a headache every time he came into the office.

"I can't wait to see Alphonse again and see what he has learned from May," Riza said.

"Probably how to get a girlfriend," Roy winked.

Riza leaned across the table to smack his hand lightly, giving him a knowing look. Roy rolled his eyes, gazing out the window afterwards.

"I'll probably have Alphonse join his brother in the office again. Hell, it'll be like old times, what with everyone in my office working again," Roy chuckled, remembering the old times when it was just Team Mustang and Edward and Alphonse whenever they could come by.

"Most definitely," Riza nodded.

Roy's face turned upside down when he realized why he was here on a date with Riza Hawkeye again. He couldn't believe he wasted three hours in the restaurant having a good time with his girlfriend, but he didn't want to do the thing either. No, he couldn't bring himself to actually do that to her, but what could he do?

Riza, having sensed the sharp change in the atmosphere around Roy, narrowed her eyes as she studied him. Noticing how his eyes were furrowed over something, she thought that there was something concerning her that he wasn't saying. _Was there a purpose to this date?_ No, she didn't want to do whatever he was thinking of, and if she was right, whatever he is thinking of right now...it couldn't happen, could it?

"Roy," she began, trying to distract him from his thoughts, "what's going on?"

If there was something about Riza Hawkeye, she hated being left out of something important, especially wherever she was involved. She absolutely had to know whatever was going on, and since it looked like it concerned her and Roy, she needed to know, whatever it is. Yes, it could break her, but she had to take the risk.

"Riza, please." Roy looked up to see Riza, his face full of regret and sadness. "I-I can't do this, I can't bring myself to tell you, to tell you…"

"Tell me what?" she asked gently.

Riza got up from her chair and came to sit by her boyfriend. She rested an arm around him and ran her nimble fingers through his smooth, silky hair. She planted a kiss on his forehead, one that made Roy go numb all over as he took in the fresh scent of Riza Hawkeye. He wanted to feel everything that was connected to her, and he didn't want to let go, never ever.

"Parliament didn't override it," he sighed, letting the secret go out.

Riza gasped softly. She had known that there was a slight chance of it happening, but she didn't realize that it would actually happen. She held her Fuhrer's face in between her soft hands, seeing the dark circles underneath his eyes. It was obvious to her that he had fought as hard as he could to make the law and to override the ancient law, but in the end, he had lost badly, and he wasn't taking it well.

 _Is that why he ordered wine tonight rather than his usual?_ she wondered.

"Of course," she mumbled to herself. She dropped into the chair, distressed over the news. This meant that everything that Riza and Roy had been planning for the last several weeks will have gone to waste. They couldn't have a public wedding ceremony. Hell, they weren't even allowed to wed each other. They couldn't even date each other.

"I'm so sorry, Reez," Roy muttered into her ear, nuzzling himself into her chest. Riza smiled as he used her old nickname; he certainly hasn't used it in so long. She found it adorable, even if it was a grave circumstance they were both in currently.

"It's okay. We'll get through this, I promise," Riza whispered into his ear, resting her head on his head.

For minutes afterwards, the couple just held each other like that. They were both grieving over their loss, over the fact that they couldn't be an item. They weren't free at all; they had never been free from the moment they stepped foot into the military. They were lost birds who wanted nothing except each other for comfort, and the military will continue to see them apart.

They understand each other so well, but everyone else around them doesn't understand them at all, not even in the slightest.

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 **Pacing is so bad at the end, I'm cringing. Anyways, please review below! I accept all reviews, both good and bad :-)**


	5. Rain

**Welcome to Royai Week Day 5! It's almost over, guys, and I can't wait until this over. I mean, I'm done dying every single day because of all the fanart and fanfictions and other stuff that make me sob over Royai. Other than that, please don't ever end this. Ever. What are your thoughts on Royai Week?**

 **Again, don't forget to read and review at the very end!**

* * *

The rain hit the ground harder than ever on this stormy, gloomy day in Central City.

Colonel Roy Mustang was trapped behind his desk for the next several hours, attempting to catch up on paperwork that he had missed due to a mission that he was sent on that lasted several days rather than a few hours. As he was signing paper after paper that showed up in front of him before the seven o' clock deadline, Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda showed up in his office carrying a tall stack of nothing but files and appeared in front of the colonel. He saluted his commanding officer.

"These are to be organized into the Files room before you leave, sir," Breda said, setting the files down beside the Colonel's desk. In a whisper he added, "At this rate, you might not be able to leave until midnight."

Mustang groaned, slamming his hand on the desk. The stack of papers slid over to the left and fell onto the ground. Which order they had been before they fell, Mustang didn't know, and now it was going to set him back even further. He tugged on the front parts of his hair.

"The higher ups are going to be the death of me at this rate," Mustang growled. "Where's my Lieutenant when you need her?"

Mustang watched Breda flinch at the mere question and sort of look away at the mention of Hawkeye. His brows furrowed; what did Breda know that he didn't about his Lieutenant?

"Well, anyways sir, it's pouring outside. If you need a lift home, you know how to contact me," Breda waved. "I'm leaving for the day. Good night, Colonel."

"Good night, Breda," Mustang replied, seeing him off with a friendly wave.

Mustang, after debating on whether or not it was actually possible to clean up this wild mess of papers and sign them all in time, got down onto the floor. He decided to sign papers first, then clean the mess later. Even if he didn't really understand whatever he was signing, it sure wasn't as bad as when he's got a stack of papers and has to sign them all in an hour. Those times, Mustang had no idea what he was signing.

He picked up the first piece of paper and with his pen in hand, he scribbled a signature on it. Then after that, every single piece of paper was scribbled onto with a signature that looked like Roy's name, but was too illegible to read. It was close enough, though, so Mustang wasn't too worried over it. When he finally got through most of the papers, he began to reorganize them onto his desk so that it was all in one nice stack. At the same time, he signed papers to put them in their correct spot in the stack rather than to mix them all up in the end.

"Yo, knock knock, Colonel Spectacular," newly promoted First Lieutenant Jean Havoc grinned through the cigarette in between his pearly whites.

Mustang lazed back for a moment. "What do you want, Havoc?"

"I was wonderin' if you wanted to go out tonight and grab a drink at the bar downtown?" Havoc leaned in onto the Colonel. He looked around the room, making sure no one would overhear his words. In a quiet tone he said, "Rumor is that Madam Christmas has some information on the Homunculi. It'll do us some good to hear it."

Mustang smirked, glad that he had Havoc on his team. "Help me finish my work, and I'll treat the both of us to some beer tonight to celebrate the week."

Havoc saluted. "Yes, sir!"

Mustang pointed to the files lying on the ground next to his desk. "You can start by going to the Files room and putting them away correctly. Failure to do so will report in a court martial. Understood?"

"Sure thing, Boss," Havoc replied, jumping down to grab the stack. "You should invite Hawkeye to come drink with us. I know it's been a hard week for all of us, what with all the paperwork and missions and stuff."

Mustang waved him off. "Sure, I'll do that. Just go down to Files already, blonde idiot."

"I'm insulted." Havoc feigned a blow to his heart before he exited the room, cackling.

Before he left, however, Mustang noted the sadness in his eyes when he had mentioned Hawkeye. Like Breda, he was surely keeping a secret - and Mustang wanted to know what was up? What in hell did his subordinates know that he didn't?

Mustang tapped his pen to his chin, obviously thinking deeply about the odd situation. Now that he was pretty much done with his paperwork other than the very last paper, he sat back and waited in anticipation for the real storm to come in and whirl the place around in less than two seconds.

 _Why doesn't anyone ever close my office doors_ , Mustang wondered as he stared at the open doors to his office. He got up to shut them, only to hear voices coming from down the hallway. Curious, he stepped out of his office to eavesdrop in.

"So he doesn't know yet," a voice said. "The less he knows, the better." Mustang recognized this voice as Master Sergeant Kain Fuery, one of his subordinates. He thought that the man had already left for the day, but he hasn't.

 _Odd_ , he thought. _Fuery checked out an hour ago, why is he still here? Maybe he left something behind...no, it wouldn't take Fuery an hour to retrieve it. Also, it would be very out of character for him to do such a thing. Should I ask? No, it'll sound suspicious._

A new voice piped up. "If he knew, he'd turn into a disaster faster than the Fullmetal Alchemist coming into his office." This one sounded unfamiliar to Mustang. Who exactly were these people and why are they conversing with his subordinates?

"Ha, ha, very funny," he heard Havoc's voice reply. "He'd be a mess alright, but the storm would take a turn for the worse if he knew. Hell, this storm would be a one compared to Mustang's kind of storm."

"He already despises them, storms," someone else said. It was Breda this time. Mustang could tell because the man's voice sounded like he was half eating on something, half talking. "What if he found out? Surely he will, it'll probably be front page news tomorrow on the _Central Times_."

"I doubt it would. I mean, she wasn't that high ranking of an officer, and the murderer wasn't even that good. The Fullmetal Alchemist already took him on, and he won against that big guy," the unfamiliar guy answered.

"Of course he did. Ed fights everyone, and fuckin' wins against them," Havoc replied. "But then, this case is also personal for him. He knew the victim, and he let his emotions take control of him."

"He did it a lot better than someone I know," Fuery said.

"And he's taking the blow just as hard," Breda replied. "Look, let's go investigate the murder scene. The damage has been done, the guy's dead, and Ed's probably going to see the Colonel now and spill the beans."

"So we intercept him and tell him and Al not to tell the Colonel?" Fuery asked.

"Sure, let's do that," the unfamiliar guy said. "Let's move out folks. We don't have a lot of time left before the beans are spilled and we have our typhoon."

"Yes, sir!" Mustang heard his team salute.

The group of people disbanded, and Mustang was left alone in his corner of the hallway. He knew for a fact they were talking about him; they've mentioned him several times while talking. He knew they weren't talking in code, so whatever they were talking about, they either decided that he wasn't going to eavesdrop onto the conversation, or that they wanted to be overheard anyways.

"Guess I should back as well," Mustang mumbled, as he dragged himself down the hallway and back into his office. There, he was greeted by a teenage boy in a red coat sitting in his chair with his feet up onto the desk.

"Nice of you to drop by, Mustang," Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, gritted his teeth. Mustang noted the blood all over his coat and his clothes, not to mention the red stains in his hair and face as well. He also wore several cuts all over his face, probably from when he was fighting the murderer. "I've got your report right here." Edward dangled a paper in front of him.

"You found the serial killer?" Mustang asked. "Of course you did. No man would ever find a little boy." Mustang relished the facial expression change Edward had when he said the word little.

"Don't call me short, you fuckin' bastard!" Edward screamed.

Behind him, Alphonse grabbed his older brother by the ponytail to keep him from jumping at the Colonel. Mustang saw Al for the first time that day and noticed that he was missing a hand and there was giant hole through the middle of his armor.

"Brother, stop," Alphonse sighed. He obviously had no motivation whatsoever to keep his brother in line. "To answer your question, sir, we did. We also finished him off - well, more like the Fuhrer did more than Brother. Brother does all the fighting, and the Fuhrer just delivered the death blow."

"Well, that takes care of everything then. Now, get out of my chair before I court martial you for trespassing into private property," Mustang gritted his teeth and pointed towards Edward's desk in his office. Edward reluctantly got up (more like Alphonse picked him up and dragged him out of the chair) and moved towards his actual desk. Mustang snatched the report up and skimmed through it.

 _Hm, nothing here about today's death, whoever may have died. I know it was a she, and she wasn't a high ranking officer, and she was obviously going to be the cause of my downfall - wait a second._

Mustang immediately looked down at the paper, and then up at Edward. "Fullmetal, where in hell did you get that much blood on you?"

Edward looked down. "Oh, this? From fighting the guy." _Lie number one_.

"Were you shot or anything?" Mustang asked. Edward shook his head in response. Mustang, not believing it, asked Edward to take off his coat and shirt to confirm what he had said. After a few minutes of screaming how indecent it was, Edward was forced to take off his clothes.

"Believe me now?" Edward groaned.

"There's a court martial paper in the second drawer of my desk. I can easily get it out and court martial you," Mustang shrugged. "Now that I've confirmed that you were not shot but have several lacerations to yourself, you're getting sent to the doctor on my orders."

"Really, bastard?" Edward yawned, already bored of the questions.

"After I finish interrogating you," Mustang responded. "Now, whose blood is on you?"

"My own," Edward replied.

"You didn't bleed that much," Mustang retorted. "Now who exactly got killed today by the serial killer before you fought him?"

Edward looked out the window, unable to respond. Mustang saw the guilt in his eyes before the sadness, and he knew he went a little too far in the interrogations.

 _The person who died today was someone personal to the Fullmetal Alchemist. She also knew Mustang and was not a high ranking officer in the military. This can only be one person...and it can't be true at all._

Mustang looked at Edward one more time, only to see that he was looking back at him too.

"You already know your answer," Edward replied softly. He pulled out a gun from his back pocket. "The Fuhrer didn't deliver the death blow. I lied. She did." He got up and offered the weapon to Mustang.

The oh so familiar gun of hers, the one gun she trusted so much, the one gun she loved more than anything else in the world. It was stained completely in red, with her initials still carved in it from the day she first got it. When Edward had touched it, guilt had been added to the bloodshed, along with the salty tears and rain water mixing with the red liquid. It was still wet, Mustang noticed, as the liquid dropped to the tile floors of his office.

The gun was the solid evidence he was looking for, and it was also the solid evidence that he never wanted to see, ever.

Mustang looked up to see Edward, his golden eyes still hardened. He obviously wasn't going to break down in front of his superior officer. No, he was much, much stronger than that, and Mustang secretly envied him for it. Alphonse, standing right beside his brother, had his hands folded together and if he had facial emotions, he surely would have a sad expression on his face. The two brothers were grieving in their own way, surely.

Mustang wasn't going to break down in front of them either. No, he had to see the body first, he has to. The gun can't be the only thing left, can it?

"She said move on, Mustang, or she'll shoot you first," Edward said. He got up from his chair. "Come on, Al, let's go back to the apartments."

"Okay then, Brother," Alphonse replied. He waited for his brother to leave the office first, then he started to speak. "Brother won't ever say it, but he - "

"Feels guilty for not being able to save her, and not being able to get his vengeance for her passing," Mustang finished. Al nodded.

"Her body's already downstairs in morgue number eight," was all Al said before the door burst open again.

Mustang looked up to see the barrel of the gun in between his eyes before a loud sound pierced the air, and pierced his brain before he fell to the floor.

 _So this is what dying feels like, and it sure isn't the greatest feeling in the world, but it's not really the worst either, and I guess this is how she left, right before he got there to be her saving grace._

* * *

There was sweat covering the sheets of Major General Roy Mustang's bed when he finally woke up from his nightmare, with a Major Riza Hawkeye sleeping soundly next to him in the bed, holding his right hand with her left as she snoozed the night away.

 _Everything will be okay in the very end. We'll get through this hardship, together. After all, we have each other's strength to rely on, don't we, Mr. Mustang?_

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 **I honestly have to admit that this is the worst one shot I've written this week. I had no motivation to write this and I didn't really have an original idea for this. Shoutout to my best friend Stevi for the fic idea.**

 **Don't forget to review! If you liked it, tell me! If you disliked it, tell me about that too! :-)**


	6. Blindness

**Important Public Service Announcement: The situations of Hawkeye and Mustang are reversed. Rather than Mustang being blinded, Hawkeye instead was stripped of her eyesight (even though Truth probably wouldn't take her eyesight for equivalent exchange). Mustang still didn't come out of the Promised Day unscathed, however.**

 **Royai Week is coming to an end soon :'( Today is Day 6, which means I write my last one shot tomorrow *cues the crying* Did you guys like Royai Week?**

 **Don't forget to review at the end! :) Shoutout to the person who reviewed last one shot by the way :)**

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The months after the Promised Day were drawn out and rather depressing, according to Roy Mustang.

After Edward Elric had defeated Father on the Day of Reckoning, Roy and the rest of his team were sent for evaluation at the hospital, checking for injuries. Riza Hawkeye had obviously been admitted, since Truth had cruelly taken her eyesight at the Gate. Roy had followed after her, since the bastard Truth had taken his left leg as a toll for him entering as well. It was weird, of course, but the Truth is cruel.

 _I think I'm starting to understand Fullmetal a little more now,_ Mustang thought.

Roy and Riza were permitted to share a room together, one being for security reasons and another being so that they could rely on each other's strength through this dark time (well it was certainly dark for Riza at least). Over the first few days, the pair of them were not allowed to have visitors in their room for "traumatic reasons". Roy thought the reason was bullshit, so he of course dialed a few numbers and made the room more lively as some of his teammates came and left. Major Armstrong, Major Edward Elric, and Dr. Marcoh had been among the few visiting their room.

The door to their room opened. "Al is doing really well so far," Edward said as he walked in without so much of a greeting, grinning in delight.

On the Promised Day, Alphonse had finally regained his body and soul and returned to their world in one piece. Unfortunately, Alphonse was severely malnourished and lacked much of his nutrition, so he was quickly admitted to the hospital, along with his brother. However, Edward doesn't do 'bedrest', so he slipped out every chance he got.

In the quest to get Alphonse's body back, Hohenheim had used up his life span as the toll and died, but Edward did not know that of course. He thought he had given up his alchemical Gate and became an ordinary human, but Hohenheim had eventually went back and did the thing. Now, Edward has his old Gate back and Alphonse back, but for all he knew, his father finally died in front of Trisha's grave. Pinako Rockbell had forgotten to tell them that he had laid on a transmutation circle, and a human transmutation circle of all circles.

"Oh really?" Mustang smiled, relaxing in his hospital bed, glad it wasn't a real intruder. "Does he like being back in the real world?"

Edward laughed. "That sounded really weird, even for you, Mustang."

"You know what I mean, Fullmetal," Roy growled.

Edward smirked. _Edward: 1. Mustang. 0._ "He's still getting used to the senses again, but he wouldn't ever want to go back into the armor again," he replied, gazing at Riza at the same time. "Are you undergoing automail surgery?" he quietly asked, not really meeting Roy's gaze when he asked.

"Most likely," Roy answered. "If I'm going to make it to the top, I'm going to need a leg to stand on, am I right?" Edward nodded in reply.

Riza sighed from her bed. Despite the fact that she was now blind, she could still hear every single word being said. "Sir, you shouldn't make such rash statements. Someone could hear you."

"Yes, Lieutenant."

Riza smiled. "How are you, Edward?" she asked, keeping a smile on her face. Even though the circumstances were harsh for her, she was still the same person as before.

"They're keeping me locked in a cage, the way they're going at," he complained. "Honestly, wouldn't it do me any good to at least wander around?"

Riza chuckled. "I'm sure the two of us would agree. They have us on a leash, you see."

"Is that any different from the military?" Edward pointed out, and both Roy and Riza laughed.

"No, but at least we could walk around in the halls of Central Command without being forced to go back to our office two seconds later," Roy said. "Also, Lieutenant Hawkeye isn't one of the dogs of the military."

"She was still on a leash when Wrath made her his personal assistant," Edward retorted.

"Fair point," Roy agreed.

There was a light knock on the door, and the three of them turned their attention to it. "Password?" Riza asked politely.

"It's your grandfather! Aren't you going to let me in?" Newly promoted Fuhrer Gruuman was standing outside the hospital door. Roy and Riza shared a look, and Riza nodded.

"Come in, Grandfather," she replied, and the doorknob turned.

The Fuhrer walked inside, escorted by several men. He shooed them away, ordering them to stand by the door. He first noticed the fact that Edward Elric was sitting in a hospital chair in between the beds. Then he saw Roy and Riza occupying the beds, and his face lit up.

"So, you finally proposed, didn't you?" the Fuhrer asked, looking straight at Roy when he said these words.

Roy choked. "W-what? N-no, I haven't proposed yet!" he said, shaking his head vigorously.

"Grandfather, please," Riza began, but Gruuman cut her off.

Edward looked at the three of them in the room, and slowly got up. "I think I should take my leave. I'll see you all around, Mustang, Hawkeye, Fuhrer Gruuman." He saluted all three of them, which took Roy by surprise. His subordinate rarely ever saluted him, not even when Fuhrer Bradley was around. Edward exited the room, closing the door shut behind him.

 _Well that was unusual. He also closed the door nicely, rather than slamming it. Does he actually hold a shard of respect for Gruuman?_ Roy wondered.

"Where were we? Anyways, I am dishing out my favorite granddaughter and I do trust you with her...so, you both should get married to each other!" Gruuman clapped his hands.

"Absolutely not, Grandfather. What about the fraternization laws?" Riza replied.

"Never mind those, I can bend them around so that you two can be together and still be with each other during work hours!"

Riza was about to give her grandfather half her mind, but Roy stopped her first. He held his hand, indicating that he wanted to speak. "Fuhrer Gruuman sir, I appreciate the request, but with all due respect, I have no intention on using her that way."

Inside Roy, his heart kind of dropped fifteen feet when he basically said that he wouldn't date Riza. He knew it was lie, and he knew that if the military ever found out that he liked his own female subordinate, he would be court martialed and discharged dishonorably.

 _This is to protect the both of us, Riza, so that we achieve our own goals and make it to the top. We have to survive under the military's regulations if we ever want to go back and fix what we did back in Ishval._

Inside Riza, her heart fell several miles when Roy had announced that he didn't like her like that. She had harbored her own feels for the man since he first stepped onto their doorstep so many years ago, and even though she knew he would leave her anyways, she still kept those feelings. Years later, when she had found Roy again in Ishval, she vowed never to leave his side again. And by becoming the protector of his back and vice versa, she could never leave his side.

 _What are you exactly saying, sir?_

"At least think it over. I would like to hand over the presidency to you and my granddaughter when I am finished, you know. It should've been yours to begin with, but in your current state…"

"I understand," Roy said. "I can wait a few more years."

"I would also like to promote you to General in the meantime. Since the Promised Day, we have given a fair trial to those who have betrayed our humble country and given them their punishment. We have a few open positions open in Central now, and I would like to offer you one of those positions," Fuhrer Gruuman continued.

Riza looked at Roy, nodding her head. "I accept the position, sir," Roy answered, bowing his head.

Gruuman looked over at his granddaughter and pulled out something from his back pocket. Roy recognized the bottle as a Philosopher's Stone in liquid form. "Where did you get such a thing?" he asked immediately.

"Doctor Tim Marcoh will be coming in shortly. He has asked me to give you this, Riza. Will you accept it is your decision, and yours alone. If you wish to get your eyesight back, you can use this to bypass the toll," was all Gruuman said. "If you also wish to stay in the military, you will be promoted to Colonel as well."

"I would like to stay in the military," Riza stated. "I accept the position humbly, Grandfather."

"In addition, Roy, your team of subordinates will be staying with you. They all have been promoted a couple of ranks respectively. Oh! A Jean Havoc has given me a message to relay to you," Gruuman said. He took out a string of paper from his coat pocket. "This is yours."

Roy unfolded the paper and read it out loud. "I have been saved from the depths of Hell. When you are ready, I have my re-enlistment papers ready for you to sign."

Riza looked at him with wide eyes. "Is he serious? That's wonderful news, sir!"

"I guess he found a Philosopher's Stone somewhere," he shrugged. "But that is excellent news! Thank you, Fuhrer Gruuman," Roy bowed to him again.

"My pleasure," Gruuman bowed. "I must be on my way, the Fullmetal Alchemist ran out before I could tell him that he was promoted to Major General. Also, expect General Armstrong to be around Central more often."

"Of course," Roy replied. "Thank you again, Fuhrer Gruuman."

Riza looked down, then up again. Though her eyesight wasn't there anymore, she could still feel where her grandfather was, or at least his general direction. "Thank you, Grandfather."

"Now remember, propose to her soon, General!" Fuhrer Gruuman laughed as he exited the room. Riza had the sudden urge to pull out the gun from underneath her pillow. Roy almost took out his gloves as well.

Roy looked over at Riza. "Your grandfather is still quite the man, isn't he?" he chuckled.

"As usual, sir," Riza sighed. "I wonder if he'll ever not ask us to get married already."

"That would be the day, Colonel," Roy said, trying out her new rank. "Colonel. I doubt I can get used to you being a Colonel now. That means you really can't get into the battlefield."

"I'll manage, sir," Riza said, picking up the small bottle that her grandfather had enveloped into her hand. Roy watched her as she absorbs the touch of the glass with her fingers.

 _She's like a Aerugian delicacy, the kind I can never have._

"Are you thinking about using it?" Roy blurted out without thinking. It was quite uncharacteristic of him to do such a thing, but never mind that. "I mean, I don't care if you do, but it would be in your best interest to do so, since I need someone who can see my enemies faster than I can see my own and uh - "

Roy stopped as he heard the laugh of Riza. He looked at her bent over with red tints on her cheeks and water in the corner of her sightless eyes, but she was laughing at him. Roy's face reddened with every second his Colonel laughed.

"My, Roy you surely need to get a hit on the head sometime soon," Riza said in between laughs. Roy noticed that she hadn't used any kind of formality whatsoever, but it was a hospital room, not the office, and he let it go. Plus, the sound of his name had rolled off her tongue quite effortlessly, and quite beautifully. If he could have a recording of her saying his name, that would be spectacular…

"And why is that, Riza?" he asked politely, also trying out her name on his lips. He felt slightly awkward using her real first name, but the glowing smile on Riza's face made up for his uncomfort.

"Of course I still need to protect you, more than ever now that you are a General, and a young one at that. Plus you do have your useless days, sir," Riza said, going back to her formal tone. Roy blinked; hell, he had half a mind to tell her to forgo the formalities and make her call him Roy every single time. "I don't think people would want a rambling General to become Fuhrer in a couple of years, now would they?" There it was, the ever so bright smile of Riza's again.

"No, I definitely don't ramble," Roy said in defense, but he found himself smiling as well. "Are you sure?" he inquired in a more serious tone.

Riza nodded. "Very sure. I'm ready whenever you are."

And even though Riza didn't have her eyesight now, Roy swore he saw the determination in her eyes, just as fierce as they were when she first promised to follow him into Hell.

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 **Don't forget to review here too! :)**


	7. The Past and Future of Royai

**Welcome to the end of Royai Week 2015. Don't cue the sobs yet, there's one more one shot left! (yay?)**

 **Don't forget to review at the end, as always :-)**

* * *

Three scenes, three different headstones, so many different time periods, but the same two people stood in front of them.

* * *

Roy and Riza were certain that it was the time. Having lived through the last several decades, through countless storms and sunshine, they both were now feeling the effects of old age. Their wrinkly faces and white hair that gleamed in the sunlight didn't lessen their affection for one another, no. In fact, as they both saw white hairs and a wrinkle appear on their body, they found it suitable to commemorate it with a long night in bed with each together, doing more mature things to each other.

But now the fuck nights have long since ended, the couple were too old to move around on their own without assistance. They each had their own stay at home nurse to care for them through the next few weeks, and at the end of the month, the doctors at the Central Hospital had predicted it was their time. Their lives together were going to end, and there was no way around it.

It was the end of a chilly, snowing November when the strings of fate began to tear apart.

"We've had a good life," Roy mused with his wife. "I think we've made the right choices up until now."

"I doubt we've ever not made a good choice on this bumpy road," Riza commented, coughing heavily at the end. "Say, Roy?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Roy asked fondly.

Even though Riza had long been promoted to First Lady of Amestris and Lieutenant General at the same time, not to mention the fact that she had left the military ten years ago to live out the rest of her life, Roy still called her Lieutenant because it was seemed fitting with her name. General Hawkeye was by far too stuffy, not unlike General Mustang, and later, Fuhrer Mustang.

Riza didn't look at her husband. "What happens when we die?"

Roy pondered over the question. It really wasn't every day that Riza actually asked him a more insightful question, and this one really topped anything she has ever asked him in the past. Though he was a bit thrown off in the beginning, he thought about the question deeply. Roy would admit that he has thought about it once or twice, but to imagine the very idea that some god above was about to send them into the afterlife, if that even existed, was well...different.

It was safe to say that he nor his wife was even prepared for their lives to officially end.

"I-I don't know, Lieutenant," he finally replied softly. "Have you ever thought about what it would really be like when we pass on?"

Roy didn't answer the question immediately. He gently coaxed Riza's fingers, unstiffening them. He could tell that Riza was nervous, just as much as he was right then. Meanwhile, Riza looked straight into his eyes, not with her threatening look as she used to look at her Colonel, but with those soft, gentle eyes that wouldn't hurt a soul.

"Once or twice," Roy soon mumbled, but Riza caught the words anyways.

"There really wasn't any evading the question, whether we might be seventeen or eighty three," Riza said. She coughed heavily again, and Roy looked at her with those frightful eyes he had once when he thought his Lieutenant was about to die in front of his eyes. "I'll be okay, Roy."

Roy swallowed the tension stuck in his throat. "I've always imagined dying would be painless and that it would come in our sleep." He closed his eyes, and opened them, still seeing his beautiful wife in front of him.

Riza giggled like a twelve year old child, which made Roy blush. "Are you sure you haven't been reading a bit too much now that you've retired from the military?" she asked.

"No, I'm fairly sure I haven't been," Roy answered, a mischievous smile on his face.

Riza rolled her eyes when he saw his face, as if to say that he has not aged mentally in practically half a century. Roy snuck a quick but emotion pouring kiss on Riza's chapped pink lips, which had Riza turning pink in the cheeks. However, due to the lack of oxygen for the split second of the kiss, she ended up coughing again, more severe than before. Something poured out of her mouth, and Riza clapped a hand over her mouth.

All this time, Roy looked at her with some affection and some concern. When Riza sat up in their bed, he wrapped an arm around her thin waist. "You okay?"

"There's almost nothing that would stop me from really being okay," Riza replied. But the look on her face screamed for medical help, and Roy tugged on her nightshirt. "No, Roy," she said, "it'll be over soon anyways." Her determined facial expression and her face turning whiter by the hour made Roy stop in his tracks. She gave him a weak smile. "It's like the compensation I've been waiting for since the Eastern Rebellion happened."

Roy couldn't stop the waterworks from actually happening that time. "Don't word it like that."

"I can't help but think that maybe my cancer is what I deserve for killing the innocent during that time," Riza continued, ignoring Roy's pleas to stop. "And maybe now, now is when their God is saying that it's over. I have fought like they did so long ago, and I survived this long, but now the death bringers are coming in to wipe me out like the State Alchemists came in to eliminate the remaining innocent so many years ago."

"Riza, you can't possibly be thinking of it like that," Roy sobbed. "We were on orders, is that so much like the cancerous cells in your body?"

Riza licked her lips. "It's a possibility."

She drew her hand away from her mouth, revealing the amount of blood seeping through her fingers. Roy motioned her towards the water bowl on the ground beside the bed, and Riza dipped her delicate hands in, washing out the red liquid stain from her hands. The entire time, Roy held her waist, practically telling her that he was there.

When Riza finished, she looked at Roy again. "See? The blood on my hands, the amount of bloodshed in Ishval."

"Don't make stupid comparisons like that," Roy said, but knew that she was right. The amount of blood on her hands reminded him of the amount of burns on his hands due to him practicing flame alchemy, and then the amount of burns from snapping so much in the Eastern Rebellion.

Riza coughed again, more severe than the one before, and the force was so great from her body that she actually bent over the bed to spit the blood coming out of her mouth. For a few moments, Roy could actually see Berthold Hawkeye bending over his deathbed and dying that fateful night. He blinked.

 _It's not time yet, is it?_

Riza continued to cough, and Roy couldn't stop it this time. The urge to help Riza, his lover, his Lieutenant, his everything, was too far great, and he got out of bed as quickly as he could. He rushed to Riza's other side as fast as his weak thin legs could take him, not to mention the few times he almost fell over. His muscles haven't been working correctly for the past few years, and therefore when the condition grew even worse, he was ordered to bedrest until he died.

"Do you need medical help?" Roy asked, knowing that even medical help wouldn't do her any good. Riza shook her head as the coughing fit grew worse by every passing second.

Roy picked up one of her hands and held it tightly. Riza grasped it as tightly as she could, but Roy quickly realized that her grip was very loose. He looked at her again, seeing the color in her eyes fading in the sunlight coming through the windows. Her face was pallid, but Roy couldn't shed those tears now. He couldn't. He had to be strong until the very end, just for Riza.

"Colonel," she weakly said.

Roy shook his head. Whether or not he had actually meant for her not to speak a single word or for her to not utter her final words was beyond the both of them.

"I."

"No, please don't," Roy gripped her hand even tighter. "Don't."

"Can't."

Roy shook his head vigorously, as if to say ' _finish it and I will court martial you_ '.

"Follow."

"Riza," he sobbed, not really accepting her fate. "Don't leave me here alone."

"Your."

"Riza," he sobbed even harder than ever before. "I know what you're going to say, don't do it. I cannot fathom a world without you, but the truth is, Riza, what is a world without you?"

"Orders."

And Riza's grip slacked, as Roy watched the lights in her eyes fade to nothing. Her body remained still, bent over the bed. The blood still flowed from the corners of her mouth, just like her father when he had died so many years ago. Her delicate hand, once filled with her warmth, was now cold and unfeeling, just like her face right now.

Then Roy collapsed to the ground, not really realizing that his vision had gone from absolute crystal clear to blurry to absolute nothingness within a few seconds.

* * *

"Riza," was the first thing he said when he woke up.

Surrounding Roy were a field of flowers, with Riza standing at the very top of the meadow. He noticed she was wearing a sundress on the hot summer day, with sunglasses and a hat to complete the outfit. She lacked shoes at the time, just like when she was seventeen and living with her recluse of a father. Riza held a basket, which she had made herself, and Roy saw the flowers overfilling the basket.

He got up and made his over to his wife. He took her hand and thrusted some daisies into her palm. With his cheeks tinted red, he said, "For you, milady."

"That's awfully nice of you, Mr. Mustang," she said, her short cropped hair dancing even underneath the hat. Riza giggled, and ran down the meadow, with Roy following her with every footstep.

He quickly realized that he was a seventeen year old boy again, living with a seventeen year old Riza Hawkeye and her father, who had dabbled in flame alchemy before he died.

 _Is this a flashback_ , Roy wondered. _Is my mind playing around with me? Didn't she just die in my arms only moments ago?_

He blinked again when he heard the loud laugh of Riza Hawkeye pushing him in front of a grave. He looked around again, seeing the scenery change. Now he was in front of a headstone, wearing his formal clothes, with Riza Hawkeye in her formal clothes right next to him. He read the words on the tomb to himself, and soon realized where he was.

Roy cleared his throat before he spoke. "I'm sorry for making you go through this all by yourself, Riza."

"It's okay, Mr. Mustang," she responded. her grave expression never once flickering. "Thank you for helping me with the funeral arrangements and everything. You didn't have to do that."

"He was my alchemy teacher. How else could I repay him?"

Riza smiled. "He left behind practically nothing but his notes on flame alchemy and myself. I could have managed."

"Sure, let's see how long you would have lasted," Roy teased, but seeing the anger flash on Riza's face, did he stop. "Did he not name a successor to them?"

"He did pass the notes onto me, but hasn't really named one. He left the responsibility to me to pick someone worthy of learning the art now that he has moved on."

"I see," Roy mused.

"Mr. Mustang," Riza started, but hesitated. "Can I trust you with my back at all times?"

Roy knew what she was going to do. After all, he had already lived this once, and now that he knew the secret, he didn't want to know them a second time.

But before he could say no, there was a flash of light, and the scene changed into another grassy area, where graves were marked in the field with headstones.

There were many people there this time, many of which Roy recognized as people from Central Command. He noticed Gracia and Elicia Hughes right in the very front, adorned in their black clothes, and quickly realized where he and Riza were now.

"No," he quietly said, "not this again."

If there was one day he didn't want to relive, it was the day of his best friend Maes Hughes's funeral.

He took Riza's hand, but she quickly pulled away. She looked at him with the kind of face that would probably have killed him if her eyes could shoot bullets as fast as her hands pulled the trigger. He nodded, knowing that there were officers around. He couldn't be seen having an affair with his subordinate, or he would be discharged before he could snap his fingers, along with Riza.

He went up to the front of everyone and chose to stand next to Gracia. Though they weren't exactly best friends like he and Maes, they were well acquainted with one another. After all, Roy was Elicia's godfather.

He got through the service miraculously without shedding a single tear, but the storm was just beginning.

At the end of the service, after everyone had left, including Gracia and Elicia, the latter of which hadn't understood the circumstances she was in, Roy pulled Riza in for a tight hug.

"Sir, the dangers of doing this could potentially affect us in the future," Riza stated, but this time, she didn't let go.

"Are you aware?" Roy blurted out. "Aware that this is something like a flashback or - "

Riza planted a kiss on his lips. "We are, after all, reliving our past before we officially pass on to the afterlife, if such a thing exists."

So she was aware. "So I can kiss you and stuff like that?" he asked.

"Let's try not to harm our so called future that we already lived, all right?" Riza laughed, and Roy agreed.

"Okay," he agreed, looking at the headstone again. "Brigadier General Maes Hughes. You were supposed to support me to the top, but how can you do that now that you are ranked above me?"

Riza watched from afar as Roy cried again for his best friend, and she knew the rain was finally starting to settle in. She walked up to him and took his hand into hers.

"It gets number as it goes," she said. "The pain of losing someone you love wholeheartedly, I mean."

There was a flash of lightning in the distance, and the scene changed one last time.

There were only two headstones in front of them in this last scenario, one dedicated to Roy Mustang, Fuhrer of Amestris and loving husband of Riza Hawkeye, and the other dedicated to Riza Mustang, First Lady of Amestris, Lieutenant General of the Amestrian State Military, and loving wife of Roy Mustang. They both read their gravestones out loud to the other, holding each other's hand at the same time. They were both not ready to see themselves six feet under, no matter the time.

"I guess this is the end, isn't it?" Riza said, leaning on Roy one last time.

"I hope Heaven's got a beer to celebrate," Roy joked.

"I'll have to supervise you, as always," Riza said with a smile on her face.

Neither of them realized that they had become ghosts in the fourth and last scenario, rather than living human beings like they were for the first three scenes.

* * *

"It's over," the supreme being overhead acting as the God of Amestris's parallel world with a Tumblr user named **fullmetal-royai** and a account labeled **royaiblue** said, sadness evident in her voice. "Their journey may have ended, along with Royai Week 2015, but Royai continues for eternity."

* * *

 **CUE THE SOBS CUE THE SAD AND TRAGIC MUSIC IT'S TIME TO CRY ROYAI WEEK 2015 IS OVER ;-;**

 **No, really, it's been a thrill ride just to write all seven one shots for you guys. Thank you to everyone who have supported me in these one shots all week. Even though I struggled to write most of these (because I totally fangirled / cried at the same time when I wrote these), I cannot believe I wrote 20K words of Royai trash. Thank you to everyone again for being here and reading. The views are astounding.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review below! Tell me what you think of my Royai trash, I wanna know :-)**


	8. Warmth

**Royai Week 2016 has finally begun, and I'm so excited to be a part of this week again! Today's topic is Warmth, and I sort of made this super fluffy and drabble-like, but gosh, the relationship that Riza and Roy share is so precious that I had to write this fluffily. Enjoy this one-shot, and the rest of the week!**

* * *

When I wake up in the morning, all I want is to feel his heart beating right next to me in bed. I want to know that he's still alive, even after all the pain and loss we've seen together. I want to be awake when he is, so that I can confirm that we both made it through the night, the time of the demons. I want to feel his heart race when he used me as a pillow last night and wakes up half confused and half embarrassed.

When I wake up in the morning, all I want is to be hugged by his muscular arms. I want to feel his hands caress my face as he tells me how lucky he is to have me. I want to touch those strong, broad shoulders, made for a man who is fit to run the country one day. I want to wake up with our legs intertwined, just so I know that this isn't some sick fantasy or anything, and that he truly wants me every day of his life. I want to wake up with his hand still holding mine when I wake up covered in blood, sweat, flames, and nightmares.

When I wake up in the morning, I make breakfast and coffee for the two of us (and Black Hayate as well, though he eats more dog food than omelets). He oftentimes takes a snooze after I inform him that I'm preparing breakfast, but he comes around after ten minutes just to hug me from behind. I've gotten used to the surprise, but it's still tender with his scent. Then he finishes making breakfast as I scramble to hop into the shower.

Breakfast usually begins with Hayate barking about how hungry he is. I feed the dog a chicken bone from dinner late last night. By then, Roy has finished setting up the table with breakfast, and I join him with the morning paper. We discuss usual politics and the amount of work that had to be done that day in the office, but sometimes we venture off and start talking about other things, mostly about the past. We've talked about our new and old subordinates, Ishval, the Promised Day, and my dad. He's never failed to make me laugh when some of these topics come up.

After breakfast, he goes in for his shower. Meanwhile, I do the dishes and put on my blues for the work day. He comes out of the shower when I'm in the middle of checking my guns, making sure I have enough bullets and enough weapons at my disposal at any given time. He makes a comment about the number of weapons I have, but it's always in good taste and I usually make a comment about how useless he is without his gloves, still in good taste. I come out victorious every time.

As he puts on his blues, I check to make sure Hayate is on guard somewhere in the house and Roy has emergency gloves somewhere in my possession. Even after the whole incident during the Promised Day, he doesn't feel safe without his gloves, but it comes from having them for a good duration of his alchemy career. He doesn't rely on circleless alchemy unless he's in a dire situation, and in a way, it makes him a lot less reckless than his subordinate (he's still reckless sometimes, but he's got me and half a brain for that). After his blues are on and his gloves in his pocket, I double check for his ID and pocketwatch. He's left it behind on several occasions, which usually ends up wasting time on my side.

Before we leave the house though, it's customary for us to share tender moments. Our jobs still revolved around the no fraternization rule, and we could barely put this together without being noticed. He kisses me on the cheek first, then on the nose, then on the lips. At the same time, I kiss his cheek, his chin, and his lips. Our hands are tangled up with the other's, and we just embrace each other for a good few minutes before we have to pretend like we're not a married couple, living under a decent sized roof with a dog and employed in the military.

For these few minutes, we're just Roy and Riza, desperately needing each other's warmth and comfort like there is no tomorrow. We're simple minded human beings that just need the other to be complete. We're two halves of a whole.

I'm scared that one day, we'll be caught red handed with what we're doing and be dishonorably discharged. It's great on one end, we wouldn't have to sneak around to have dinner together and whatnot. On the other, we lose our jobs, our ranks, and most importantly, he loses a good part of his future. It's not something we should be messing around with, but he is willing to make that sacrifice just to be with me today, and I admire that about him.

After the millionth kiss (with tongue), we move apart. Now we must assume our roles as a captain and general in the military, with absolutely no affiliation with each other. It breaks our hearts to do it, but it's something more than never. We take off our marriage rings and leave them on top of the mantle. They're simple bands with our initials carved in, nothing more. We couldn't risk anything, in case one of us (mainly Roy) were to be questioned about the bands. He swore one day, he'd give me a real ring with a real engraving in it. I hold him to this promise, even to this day.

Before we leave the house though, he leans in close, right next to my ear. He whispers about how much he loves me, and I do the same in return. I remind him how much he means to me, how much I rely on him as much as he relies on me. His voice is tenor deep, and I feel his heart thumping hard. His cologne, made just for the womanizing, information needy part of him, was strong and manly. It's his usual Old Spice. I kiss the bottom of his ear and jingle the keys in my hand. As much as I don't want to be apart from him, there's a time and place for things to happen. Now is professional work time.

"Time to go, sir," I remind him one last time.

"Yes, Lieutenant," he responds with no hesitation or regret.

This is the life we lead now, and regardless of the danger, it is worth the comfort and warmth that he gives me every single moment we get together.

* * *

 **Don't forget to review too! Love you all (and Royai too of course!)**


	9. Color

**Day 2 is upon us for Royai Week! I aplogize for sucking towards the end...I sort of ran out of time and ideas. Regardless, I hope you all like this oneshot!**

* * *

The first day, he saw the stain of blood on his hands. It had been another gruelling day under the miserable hot sun, and to top it off, it was summer. A normal person would be relaxing by the poolside today, but Roy wasn't any normal person. Today, he was ordered to extinguish the twentieth district and eliminate three cult leaders, all with the snap of his fingers or the bullets from the rifle.

So he headed off into battle, his superior officer in front of him and men behind him to support him. His face was dirty and grim, and his eyes were aghast with the horror of the flames burning in the distance. He had seen far too many deaths in a year, and he knew he would see even more in the next. There was no stopping the law, no stopping the Fuhrer when he says something. If he demanded inhumanity, then inhumanity they shall give, even if it is morally wrong.

Most days it is easier to exterminate with the snap of his fingers. That way he can't see everyone he's burning alive in the building, and he doesn't have to see their faces right before they die. It's a sorry sight, and Roy feels extra sorry for the snipers. They were the ones who had it rough, they knew everyone they were killing. The rifle is extra baggage, but a necessary baggage in case something happened with his gloves, or it rains - which it never does. He wants to toss it aside, but then again, it is assigned to him, and the military needs it back at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, he returns the rifle, but keeps his gloves. His good friend Maes clamps him on the back and congratulates him on a job well done. It's one of the few things that keeps him going. Maes is an invaluable friend and ally, and Roy is grateful for him. He also finds Riza, who has also found her way onto the battlefield. She greets the two of them stoically, and they head off for dinner and a good, long rest. The night is near, after all.

Roy keeps his thoughts shut in his mind, and pretends that he was perfectly okay with the situation, even if it tore him apart at night. When the sun goes away, the brightness of the fire flickers and he remembers what he's done. He remembers what his orders are, and he knows that they won't change tomorrow. There is no future for anyone here, not when they are here.

After everything that has happened, will he be able to keep her by his side?

The second day brings a beautiful sunrise. Frankly, he's not alone with this sunrise. The raging headache and burning stomachache forces Roy into the bathroom at 6 in the morning as he throws everything up. He's not sick, but the bottles in the living room indicate that something happened last night. He assumes that he drank all the alcohol in the house, and he magically got into bed that night.

After spending the last half hour in the bathroom, he gets up and walks into the kitchen, pouring himself some juice to drink. Coffee would not do him any good right now, so he would have to settle for the orange juice in the fridge. It had originally been given to him as a joke by Havoc, because he needed to lighten up a bit (no idea of the connection, but he went with it), but the orange juice had indeed been doing him some good. The battle had only ended last year, but it still feels like it was yesterday.

Roy takes out a bowl and a box of cereal to eat for the morning. A light breakfast would do him some good. After that, he could take some ibuprofen to stifle the aching in the back of his head and head right back to bed. Lucky him that today is Sunday, but he probably knew that last night when he drank three full bottles of vodka.

He climbs back into bed, but not before he drinks another glass of orange juice. The ibuprofen is settling in now, and he starts to feel the effects. Feeling dead tired again, he nods off to sleep for the rest of the day.

He doesn't even know how Lieutenant Hawkeye found him at 1 in the morning, passed out in front of her apartment door, nor does he know about her cleaning up his house after he went back to sleep. He should thank for, but only if he knew.

The third day is full on sunshine. Roy forces everyone, including Fullmetal, to take a day off so that they could enjoy themselves to the fullest. It's been about six months since the last time, and since his team works diligently sometimes (thanks Hawkeye), this is long overdue.

Today, Roy chooses to go to the local pool and just hang out underneath the hot sun (and shady umbrella). Decked out in typical pool clothes, the swim trunks, and sunglasses, he lies there. He watches the kids mess around in the water, and it almost reminds him of how he used to be like them so many years ago.

He naps under the sun for quite a while too, just long enough for himself to almost burn his skin. Luckily, he woke up just in time to be greeted by a familiar person. Oddly enough, Riza had chosen to go to the pool today as well, and she saw him fast asleep under the umbrella as he became a human lobster.

"Sir, I'd advise sunscreen," she says to him, and walks away.

Roy looks down at his reddened legs, and he agrees. He takes the sunscreen and dumps a good amount of it on his legs. He quickly rubs it all over his legs, even though it's probably too late to do anything about the sunburns he'll be getting later.

Of course, that same sunscreen will not fix the redness in his cheeks, no matter how much he tries.

The fourth day is a day in Resembool. Roy and Riza are taking a trip to visit their youngest subordinate, who is taking some time off after an incident the other week. At the same time, they are checking out the sheep festival, which Al cannot stop talking about ever since Fullmetal told him the other day through a phone call.

On the way to the Rockbell's residence, they hop into a wagon that will take them straight to their place. The driver requires some money out of it, but it sure is cheaper than getting a taxi in Central City. Roy takes note on how the man did not recognize him or Riza without their military blues. They sit down and talk about what's going on in their current lives right now, like friends. However, there is one clear difference in their speaking - the affection shown beyond the words.

They arrive in front of the residence, and Roy helps Riza to climb down from the wagon, even though Riza insists that she is fine. Roy admires the beautiful green grass in front of the house, where Den naps in. The moment they come, however, he jumps up and begins to bark loudly. This leads to Granny Pinako coming outside to greet them, and she graciously allows them inside. They've taken decent care of Ed, and they weren't bad military personnel, if she could say so herself.

"How's Fullmetal holding up?" Roy asks her and Winry, who is sitting at the table. In her hand was a piece of his automail arm, which had gotten busted - again.

"Fine," Winry responds. "He's in the patient guest room, if you want to see him." She pauses for a moment to think. "Actually, take him outside, to the sheep festival. He doesn't like to miss those. He's a softie for some of the lambs, I swear."

This is primarily the reason why Roy and Riza had dragged Ed out of bed, tossed him into a wheelchair (much to his distraught), and brought him to the festival. Many of the villagers, seeing Edward there, bring their sheep to him, asking for help. Several are asking about their wool, and his usual reply is that it's decent wool for someone in Resembool. Riza is not sure if that is meant to be a compliment or an insult, but she lets it go. Others ask about their little lambs, and Roy finds the expression on his face almost cute whenever the lambs come by.

Winry is right; Ed is a softie for lambs. Roy takes a mental note on this so that he could torture the kid later with it.

Seeing Roy and Riza acting as Ed's guardians for the day made several ongoers believe that they are actually his new parents. Roy tries to deny it really fast, and so does Ed. He goes on to explain that they are relatives on his father's side, which is a lie. Riza goes along with the fabricated story, and the people believe it.

Roy swears that Riza is actually enjoying the festival, being Ed's relative, and being around Roy too, but he knows that she isn't going to admit it.

The fifth day is a day just to be dressed in the formal military blues, because today is the inauguration date of Fuhrer Roy Mustang and his wife, Riza Mustang. With the fraternization rule long gone (thanks Grumman), he quickly acted upon his true feelings and emotions and stole the girl of his dreams. Today, every single one of his goals will be achieved.

He leads Riza through the huge crowd of military men and women, and their guests. Roy had intended to throw a party just for his allies and friends, but word spread too quickly for any of that to happen. He settled for something close to his wishes and excluded normal citizens from the party. Guests had to be accompanied by a military official or they risk being kicked out.

Several generals send their well wishes to the new Fuhrer, and Roy accepts them graciously. Some of them also congratulate Riza on their marriage, which she thanks in kind. Edward, now retired from the State, waves an invitation in his hand and beckons the pair to come to him. His hand is held by Winry's, and Al's is held by May. Roy heads over to them.

"Damn, I would've liked to see you dressed in military blues," Roy comments with a smirk on his face.

"Fuck off, bastard," Ed responds. "You can't make me wear that junk - it's hideous on me."

Roy's smirk etches deep in his face. He pulls out several photos of Ed in his blues from his wallet. "Something worthy of safekeeping, but does miss Rockbell want some of these?"

Ed, angered by the sight of the photos from several years ago, tries to get the photos away from Roy's grasp, but to no avail. Winry tugs him back by the collar of his white shirt as she tells Roy how much she wants those photos, since they are cute and feature a very, very embarrassed side of Ed. This makes Riza laugh, and Roy promises to personally deliver some copies of them at a later date. Ed's not happy, to say the least.

They exchange the normal 'see you later' and the usual 'fuck off' from Ed, which Roy sees as a term of endearment at this point. Arm in arm, Roy and Riza make their rounds around the room, talking to every other person that they meet. Gracia and Elicia had also been invited to the party, and Roy feels sad that his best friend couldn't see how much his daughter has grown.

"She's become a beautiful goddaughter," Riza says. Roy nods, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Maes would've kept the boys away from her if he saw her right now," Roy comments with a laugh in his voice. "He's so lucky to have such a beautiful girl."

Riza leans into his ear. "What if I say that we're going to have an even prettier girl?"

Roy gives her a side glance. "Are you implying…?"

"I am," she confirms for him. "Positive as of three days ago. I wasn't sure how to tell you."

Roy picks her up into the air and swings her around like a toy. The smile on his face is so big and bright, and Riza could not help but to lay eyes on his brilliant white teeth and beautiful smile. It lit up the entire room, and frankly, her world. Roy kisses her on the lips at the end.

"That's wonderful, babe. Congratulations to us," he whispers to her.

"Yes, congratulations to us," Riza replies with the biggest smile on her face.

The sixth day is indigo, and this color does not really exist to Roy and Riza. The only time it's ever really existed is for the flowers in the field the day that they buried their first born child. She had been infected with the plague running around Central for the last couple months, and with an already weakened immune system, she ended up dying last week. The couple's been in mourning ever since.

Today is the day of the funeral, and they dress in their blacks. Sara Jane Mustang is being buried in the same field as Maes Hughes, and they go to pay their respects not to just Sara, but to him as well. After all, this opportunity doesn't ever come up, thanks to Roy's busy schedule.

Roy, at the funeral, speaks an eulogy about Sara and her four short years in life. He tells the audience about her hobbies, what she's done during those four years, everything and anything that made Sara who she was. He reminds people about how she could steal the hearts of guys easily, and also how accurate her target practice was. Knives happened to be specialty, after all. He also tells them about how her goals were left unfulfilled, but in her stead, Roy would do his work ten times harder. Her dream was to learn alchemy, but she never got that far.

After his turn, Riza speaks up about a few things her daughter has given her in life. The looks of hope, the looks of love, the looks of endearment. Sara's accomplishments are also her accomplishments, and she shares them with the crowd. Sara had been a wonderful daughter, from the beginning all the way to the end. Riza would not give up her memories of her for anything else in the world.

Her casket descends into the ground, and Roy tosses several indigo flowers down there after picking some in the meadow. Sara had once loved to play outside in the grass, and he thought it was fitting for her to be buried where she loves with what she loves. It's almost a pretty sight, other than the unmanly tears streaming from his eyes.

And every time they return to the meadow, indigo flowers are laid by her tombstone. Somewhere above, Sara is probably playing with them, just like she did when she was alive.

Violet is the color of the seventh day, the day that Edward Mustang lays his parents to rest. They had never wanted a funeral dressed in black, so they personally requested in their wills to have a different color funeral. Edward chooses purple for them, something made for royalty.

Their tombstones are laid next to Sara's, and several rows away from Maes and Gracia Hughes. Side by side, the headstones read something almost poetic, but romantic and hardcore at the same time. Edward thinks it suits them just fine.

Their funerals are placed at the same time and the same place, and since they died in action, it is also a military funeral. Edward requests that they get a private military funeral, to which the Fuhrer allows. Edward only invites the ones closest to his parents, which ended up being about twenty people maximum. The funeral is short and sweet, and Edward likes that just fine.

At the end of the day, after everyone leaves, Edward pays his respects to his parents and his sibling. Indigo flowers are placed on Sara's grave, and violet flowers are left on Roy and Riza's. He wipes the remaining tears away from his face, and his facial expression hardens.

He resolves to climb the ladder until he sits at the head of the country, just like his father once did years before.


	10. Stars

**For those of you who were following Royai Week, I apologize for taking five months to finish this one shot (and it's shorter than my normal chapters and one shots). I got really sick during that week and ended at this one shot, so I decided to finish it up at least, if not finish out the week strong. Hopefully the latter will happen, but I wouldn't count on it. I haven't been active in the FMA fandom in a long time, so I don't know how accurate I will be.**

 **Please continue to read and review though!**

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After dinner, Riza pulled Roy into the garden area, where there was a patch of grass and two pillows on the ground. Roy had a faint idea of what was going to happen, but he wasn't really prepared for tonight's mess.

"Lay down," she instructed. Roy did as he was told. Riza laid back in the grass next to him and put her head on the pillow.

"Are we sleeping under the stars tonight?" Roy asked.

"Not unless you want to," she teased. "There are by far too many ants and critters around here to actually sleep properly outside. Plus, I neglected to bring a blanket or anything else, just a pillow for some comfort."

"I could always go back inside to get a blanket and whatever else we need," Roy offered.

Riza nodded, not really listening. Instead, her focus was on the night sky. Roy glanced at her, mesmerized by how attentive she seemed to be on the night lights shining bright. He stared at them, trying to connect the dots to make constellations and pretty pictures in the sky. However, his efforts were to no avail.

"The stars are beautiful," Riza murmured. She tried to reach them using her right hand, but she was too far away to reach them. "Wouldn't it be nice to be a star, glowing brightly during the night time?"

Roy believed that Riza was already a star in his eyes. "I suppose," he mused. "To be the light to guide someone out of the dark."

Slowly, but surely, the stars moved in the sky. Riza was fascinated by how humans could not detect that we were moving, always moving, even though we can't feel the planet turning. Roy secretly thought that she was a space nut. Still, her eyes were fixed on the sky, watching a couple of shooting stars pass by.

"Look, Roy, a shooting star," Riza pointed out at the third shooting star passing by.

"It's wonderful," Roy agreed.

The two of them sat there for a while, pointing out stars in the sky and ones that shot across the night sky. They both admired how they twinkled so brightly in the night sky. Roy admired the stars in the sky, while Riza sat there, trying to trace some of the constellations drawn in the sky. Roy laughed several times at some awful attempts to find Ursa Major.

"I'm sorry. Constellations are quite fascinating, yet I just can't seem to get a hang of actually pinpointing one," Riza laughed apologetically.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Roy whispered. "Though, it is amusing to see you try."

Riza turned back, red in the face. For a while now, she has had this weird attraction to the man. Perhaps it was the way he danced as he cleaned up the dishes after dinner. Maybe it was the way he hunched over his books at night, studying feverishly all through the night in order to please her father. He was, after all, a hard man to please, but he saw something in Roy Mustang. He was still here, for one thing. Riza held back her strong admiration for him, merely watching him from afar.

"Here," Roy offered, "why don't I point one out to you?"

"Sure," Riza said shyly. "Which one is Ursa Major?"

Roy pointed to the bear shaped figure in the sky. Riza traced the stars with her pointer finger, and the other man nodded in approval. "That's Ursa Major, the bear in the sky. And in it is the Big Dipper, the ladle in the constellation. It's an asterism, a constellation that isn't an actual constellation."

Riza frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It's just a group of stars that make up something that is a part of a bigger constellation," Roy shrugged. Truth be told, he was just showing off his astronomy knowledge at this point.

Roy would never admit something as silly as this, but for the longest time now, he withheld feelings for her. From the very start, he knew that there was a small magnet that pulled the two of them together, and she was someone very special to him. Roy found her haircut to be very boyish, yet attractive on her. It featured her features nicely, and really showed her personality. Although, if she let her hair grow out, Roy doubted he could hold back anymore.

"Roy?" Riza interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?" Roy asked, trying to hide his embarrassment. Thankfully, it was dark outside, so she couldn't have seen how red his face was.

Riza stood over the man lying on the ground. Her hand was outstretched to him. Smiling so that Roy could see her pearly whites even in this amount of darkness, she beckoned for him to get up from the ground. Roy took her hand, almost jolting it away when he felt an electric shock coursing through him.

Riza pulled away, though. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think that would happen."

Roy hid his slight discomfort from the shock. "It's perfectly alright. Now, why are we going inside already?"

Riza pointed to her imaginary watch. "Didn't you know? It's ten o'clock, curfew is in thirty minutes. Hurry up, Roy, or Father will be furious."

Roy understood, and he hoisted himself up into a standing position. "Alright," he replied, following Riza into the house.


End file.
